-SIR  HENRY  LUCY 


MEN  AND   MANNER 
IN     PARLIAMENT 


. VYcY//y    (  (  .    J itcu 

tnnn  tt  fjtii/ifiny  fa/     I  .< ').'  'Jtiryrnt  . 


MEN    AND    MANNER 
IN     PARLIAMENT 


SIR    HENRY    LUCY 


WITH   A   BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTE 
AND   SIXTEEN    ILLUSTRATIONS 


E.    P.     DUTTON    AND     COMPANY 
68 1    FIFTH    AVENUE,  NEW   YORK 


(All  rights  reserved) 

PRIVI  KD   IX    GRK.VT   RKU'AI.N 


THIS 

RESURRECTED   BOOK 

IS    INSCRIBED    TO    THE 

YOUNG  STUDENT  AT  PRINCETON   UNIVERSITY 

WHO   FORTY-FOUR   YEARS  AGO 
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AND   IS  TO-DAY 
PRESIDENT   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


LETTER  FROM  PRESIDENT  WILSON 
TO  SIR  HENRY  LUCY 

WHITE  HOUSE, 

December  ir,  1912. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  LUCY, 

Thank  you  sincerely  for  letting  me  see 
the  syndicated  London  Letter.  I  read  it  with 
real  interest,  and  am  glad  to  have  this  occasion 
to  thank  'you  for  the  interest  you  stirred  many 
years  ago  'in  the  action  of  public  affairs  in  Great 
Britain.  * 

I  shall  always  think  of   you  as  one   of  my 
instructors. 

Cordially  yours, 

WOODROW;  WILSON. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    NOTE 

IN  the  authorized  Life  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States  by  Mr.  Wilson  Harris,  recently 
published  and  widely  read,  the  following 
passage  occurs.  It  is  part  of  the  narrative 
dealing  with  Mr.  Wilson's  University  days  in 
1875.  'Wilson's  bent,"  Mr.  Harris  writes,  "is 
definitely  historical  and  political.  At  Princeton 
he  read  widely  and  wisely,  studying  particularly 
Chatham  and  Burke,  Brougham  and  Macaulay. 
Bagehot  was  an  inexhaustible  mine  of  sugges- 
tion and  inspiration.  But  the  first  serious 
stimulus  to  political  thought  and  investigation 
came  from  a  less  classic  source.  In  the 
Chancellor  Green  Library  at  Princeton  was  a 
set  of  bound  volumes  of  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine,  the  later  issues  of  which  numbered 
among  their  leading  features  a  running  com,- 
mentary  on  the  proceedings  of  the  British  House 
of  Commons  by  '  The  Member  for  the  Chiltern 
Hundreds,'  one  of  many  pseudonyms  of  that 
veteran  political  journalist,  Sir  Henry  Lucy. 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

Mr.  Wilson  himself  has  testified  in  later  years 
to  the  influence  Lucy's  pictures  of  the  Chamber 
at  Westminster  had  on  his  broadening  thought." 

Constitutional  modesty  is  embarrassed  at 
finding  my  name  bracketed  with  the  masters  in 
literature  at  whose  feet  sat  the  youth  who  was- 
destined  in  course  of  time  to  achieve  in  the 
world's  history  a  place  among  Presidents  of  the 
United  States  second  only  to  that  of  Washing- 
ton. The  biographer's  statement  has,  however, 
been  confirmed  by  Mr.  Woodrow  Wilson,  who, 
in  a  charming  letter  addressed  to  me  shortly 
after  he  was  installed  at  the  White  House, 
wrote:  "I  shall  always  think  of  you  as  one 
of  my  instructors."  Hearing  of  the  incident, 
the  Lord  Mayor  was  good  enough  to  invite  me 
to  meet  the  President  at  the  luncheon  given  in 
his  honour  at  the  Mansion  House  during  his 
visit  to  London  last  January. 

I  found  a  convenient  opportunity  in  course  of 
the  banquet  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  table  at  which 
the  President  sat  in  company  with  Mr.  Lloyd 
George.  The  Prime  Minister  presented  me, 
and  the  President  welcomed  me  with  heartiest 
handshake  and  gracious  assurance  that  few 
incidents  in  the  course  of  his  visit  to  London 
had  exceeded  the  pleasure  with  which  he  met 
his  "  early  instructor." 

ro 


Biographical  Note 


There  is  no  "side"  on  the  President.  With 
a  fame  resounding  through  both  hemispheres, 
with  the  roar  of  London's  tumultuous  welcome 
still  ringing  in  his  ear,  he  was  as  natural  and 
simple  in  manner  and  speech  as  if  he  were  still 
a  Professor  at  Princeton.  To  ten  minutes'  lively 
talk  'Mr.  Lloyd  George,  in  high  spirits  at  a 
triumph  hourly  growing  as  fresh  returns  from 
the  polls  at  the  General  Election  arrived, 
gaily  contributed. 

Publication  of  the  articles  in  the  Gentle- 
>manjs  Magazine  had  spasmodic  effect  on  the 
circulation  of  the  historic  but  moribund 
periodical  which  in  earlier  days  boasted  as  con- 
tributors Dr.  Johnson  and  other  literary  stars 
of  magnitude.  Encouraged  by  the  prospect,  the 
Editor  (Richard  Gowing)  and  I,  unconsciously 
anticipating  modern  enterprise,  clubbed  our 
scanty  'finances  and  bought  the  magazine.  After 
brief  term  of  proprietorship  we  resold  it  to 
Messrs.  Chatto  and  Windus,  at  a  profit  which, 
though  welcome  to  struggling  journalists,  would 
not  have  tempted  Lord  Northcliffe. 

His  lordship,  by  the  way,  with  characteristic 
kindness  found  time,  among  multifarious 
engagements,  to  bring  under  my  notice  the  first 
intimation  of  President  Wilson's  acquaintance 
with  the  articles.  Forwarding  me  a  copy  of 

II 


Men  and  Manner  in   Parliament 

a    Life    of    Woodrow    Wilson,    at    the    date    a 
candidate  for  the  Presidency,  he  wrote  : 

ELMWOOD  ST.  PETER'S,  KENT, 

May  15,   1912. 
MY  DEAR  SIR  HENRY, 

I  do  not  know  whether  you  have  seen  the 
enclosed  book  by  Dr.  Hale.  It  mentions  your  work 
in  a  very  interesting  way.  To  have  greatly  influenced 
the  mind  of  a  possible  President  of  the  United  States 
is  indeed  an  achievement. 

Yours  sincerely, 

NORTHCLIFFE. 


The  book  is  evidently  other  than  the  one 
written  by  Mr.  Wilson  Harris  quoted  on  an 
earlier  page. 

Considering  the  anonymity  and  actual  ob- 
scurity of  the  writer,  Men  and  Manner  in 
Parliament  met  with  generous  reception  from 
the  London  and  provincial  Press.  Several 
reviews  exceeding  a  column  in  length  appeared, 
one  a  special  article  in  the  New  York  Tribune 
from  the  pen  of  its  famous  London  corre- 
spondent, G.  W.  Smalley,  not  habitually  used  to 
write  smooth  things.  In  a  leading  article  in 
the  Liverpool  Daily  Post,  written,  I  believe,  by 
the  Editor,  Sir  Edward  Russell,  the  book  was 
favourably  compared  with  the  work  of  Edward 
Whitty,  who  some  years  earlier  had  with  free 

12 


Biographical  Note 

lance  tilted  among  the  Parliamentary  windmills. 
I  may  say  that  at  the  time  of  writing  I  had 
never  even  heard  of  Whitty's  name,  and  have 
not  since  had  the  opportunity  of  reading  his 
book. 

The  volume  was  published  by  Tinsley.  I 
forget  the  price  of  issue,  but,  owing  to  the 
outburst  of  welcome  from  the  Press,  it  must 
have  had  considerable  sale.  Tinsley,  apart  from 
business  transactions  a  charming  man  long 
trembling  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy,  took  the 
opportunity  at  this  particular  juncture  to  topple 
over.  One  consequence  was  that  I  did  not 
receive  a  penny  for  the  book,  whether  in  the 
form  of  purchase  of  copyright  or  payment  of 
royalty.  As  the  guerdon  of  prior  publication 
in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  was  at  the  modest 
rate  of  half  a  guinea  a  page,  I  was  not  materially 
enriched  by  my  labour. 

It  chanced  that  in  due  time  I  was  lavishly 
rewarded.  The  series  of  sketches  proved  to  be 
what  Mr.  Pumblechook  alleged  Pip's  aunt  had 
been  to  him,  namely,  "  the  founder  of  his 
fortins."  Edmund  Yates,  just  starting  the 
World,  read  the  book  and  invited  me,  otherwise 
a  stranger,  to  call  upon  him.  The  result  of 
the  interview  was  my  engagement  on  the  staff 
of  the  new  paper,  and  the  contribution  of  a 

13 


Men  and   Manner  in    Parliament 

series  of  Parliamentary  sketches  entitled  "  Under 
the  Clock,"  paid  for  on  a  scale  which,  accord- 
ing to  my  current  experience,  was  fabulous. 
Edward  Dicey,  reading  them  in  the  World, 
invited  me  to  contribute  through  the  Session  a 
weekly  article  to  the  Observer.  Sir  Francis 
Burnand,  on  assuming  the  editorship  of  Punch, 
having,  as  he  said,  been  accustomed  to  breakfast 
every  Sunday  morning  on  the  "  Cross  Bench  " 
articles  which  for  more  than  thirty  years  were 
a  prominent  feature  of  the  Observer,  invited  me 
to  fill  the  vacancy  created  in  its  pages  by  the 
death  of  Tom  Taylor,  who  during  his  own 
term  of  editorship  distilled  "  Essence  of  Parlia- 
ment/' first  bottled  by  Shirley  Brooks. 

Hence  "  The  Diary  of  Toby,  M.P.,"  which 
through  the  Parliamentary  Sessions  filled  a  page 
of  Punch  for  the  uninterrupted  period  of  thirty- 
five  years,  winning  for  the  writer  the  genial 
friendship  of  the  English-speaking  race  at  home 
and  throughout  the  far-flung  borders  of  the 
Empire. 

The  story  reads  like  a  prose  version  of  The 
House  that  Jack  Built.  I  tell  it,  as  once  started, 
it  rapidly  developed. 

Apart  from  the  accident  of,  as  Lord 
Northcliffe  puts  it,  having  "  greatly  influenced 
a  possible  President  of  the  United  States,"  the 

14 


Biographical  Note 

book  may  perhaps  have  some  attraction  as  re- 
calling personalities  prominent  in  a  House  of 
Commons  memorable  as  being  the  first  in 
which  Disraeli  sat  as  Prime  Minister.  Value, 
such  as  it  is,  is  enhanced  by  reproduction  of  not 
easily  accessible  portraits  of  men  who  nearly 
half  a  century  ago  were  prominently  engaged 
in  the  direction  of  public  affairs.  All,  all  are 
gone,  the  once  familiar  faces.  As  far  as  I 
know  not  a  single  individual  among  those  who 
people  the  pages  of  this  volume  is  alive  to-day. 

HENRY    LUCY. 


PUBLISHER'S    NOTE 

,Mv  thanks  are  due  to  Sir  Frank  Newnes  and 
Sir  F.  Carruthers  Gould  for  kind  permission  to 
reproduce  in  this  volume  some  clever  Parlia- 
mentary portraits  by  our  leading  caricaturist 
which,  originally  appearing  in  the  Strand 
^Magazine,  were  re  published  in  Sir  Henry  Lucy's 
Peeps  at  Parliament  and  Later  Peeps  at 
^Parliament.  I  also  thank  Mr.  John  Murray 
for  his  courtesy  in  permitting  the  use  of  Mr.  J.  S. 
Sargent's  portrait  of  Sir  Henry  Lucy. 

T.  FISHER  UNWIN. 


16 


CONTENTS 

PAG* 

BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE         .  .  .  -9 

PUBLISHER'S  NOTE  .  .  .  .16 

CHAPTER 

I.  THE    ORATOR  .  .  .  .  .21 

II.  THE   OFFICIAL   MEMBER      .  .  .  -49 

III.  THE    INDEPENDENT   MEMBER  .  .  -94 

IV.  THE   TALKER  .  .  .  .    133 
V.  THE   IRISH    MEMBER              ....    l6l 

VI.      CANDIDATES   FOR   THE    LEADERSHIP  .    '  .    182 

VII.      THE   SILENT   MEMBER          ....    212 

VIII.      FALLEN   OUT  OF  THE    RANKS  .  .  .    228 

INDEX  ....  .    257 


17  B 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

SIR    HENRY   LUCY  .  .    .  .          Frontispiece 

Photogravure  of  portrait  by  John  Sargent,  R.A. 

TO  FACE  PAGE 

BENJAMIN   DISRAELI,  AFTERWARDS    LORD    BEACONSFIELD 

(l804-l88l)  .  .  .  .  .  .24 

JOHN   BRIGHT   (1811-1889)  .  .  .  .34 

From  a  photograph  by  Rupert  Potter. 

WILLIAM    EWART  GLADSTONE    (1809-1898)  .  .      44 

ROBERT   LOWE    (1811-1892)  .  .  .  .66 

From  a  photograph  supplied  by  Mr.  Augustin  Rischgitz. 

RIGHT    HON.   W.    E.    FORSTER    AND    RIGHT    HON.    JAMES 

WILLIAM    LOWTHER   .  .  .  .  .86 

Drawn  by  Sir  F.  Carruthers  Gould. 

HENRY   FAWCETT   (1833-1884)       ....    114 

SIR   WILFRID    LAWSON  (1829-1906)  .  .  .    Il8 

Drawn  by  Sir  F.  Carruthers  Gould. 

SIR   CHARLES   AND  THE   SECOND    LADY   DILKE      .  .    122 

SIR   WILLIAM    HARCOURT  AND   J.    G.    BIGGAR          .  .    192 

Drawn  by  Sir  F.  Carruthers  Gould. 

LORD     HARTINGTON,     AFTERWARDS     EIGHTH     DUKE     OF 

DEVONSHIRE,   AND   SIR   WILLIAM    HART   DYKE  .    198 

Drawn  by  Sir  F.  Carruthers  Gould. 

LORD   PALMERSTON    (1784-1865)  ....   204 


LORD  JOHN   RUSSELL  (1792-1878)  .  .  .212 

engra' 

19 


Painted  by  Sir  George  Hayter  ;  engraved  by  James  Broraley  ;  published 
1836. 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

CHAPTER   I 
THE    ORATOR 

How  will  you  know  the  pitch  of  that  great  bell 
Too  large  for  you  to  stir  ?     Let  but  a  flute 
Play  'neath  the  fine-mixed  metal :  listen  close 
Till  the  right  note  flows  forth,  a  silvery  rill  ; 
Then  shall  the  huge  bell  tremble — then  the  mass 
With  liquid  waves  concurrent  shall  respond. 

IF  it  were  conceivable  that  the  fortunes  of  war 
had  gone  hopelessly  against  Great  Britain  in 
her  struggle  with  Ashantee,  and  that  King 
Koffee  Kalcalli,  carrying  reprisals  into  the 
enemy's  country,  had  besieged  London,  and, 
imitating  Alexander  in  his  treatment  of 
humbled  Athens,  had  demanded  the  bodies  of 
the  orators  of  the  House  of  Commons,  we 
might  find  solace  in  the  reflection  that  not  many 
new  writs  would  have  to  be  moved  in  order 
to  fill  vacancies  consequent  upon  the  fulfilment 
of  the  barbarian's  vengeful  fancy.  George 

21 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

Colman  the  younger,  writing  of  the  literary 
discussions  of  Tom,  Dick,  and  Will,  observes  : — • 

It  cost  them  very  little  pains 

To  count  the  modern  poets  who  had  brains. 

'Twas  a  small  difficulty  ; — 't wasn't  any  ; 

They  were  so  few  : 
But  to  cast  up  the  scores  of  men 
Who  wield  a  stump  they  call  a  pen, 
Lord  !  they  had  much  to  do, — 

They  were  so  many  ! 

Making  the  necessary  alterations  to  suit  the  case 
of  one  reviewing  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
counting  up  the  orators  and  casting  up  the  scores 
of  men  who  merely  talk,  this  verse  precisely 
describes  the  preliminary  position.  It  is  even 
startling  when,  having  to  set  down  in  black  and 
white  the  sum  of  the  orators  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  running  over  the  list  of  familiar 
names  and  mentally  conjuring  up  the  well- 
known  forms  in  their  varied  attitudes,  speaking 
in  their  diverse  voices,  and  uttering  their  mani- 
fold thoughts,  we  gradually  find  vision 
narrowing  down  to  the  units  who  stand  out  from 
the  crowd  distinguished  by  the  halo  of  heaven- 
born  oratory.  The  present  House  of  Commons 
consists  of  653  members.  How  many  shall  we 
say  are  orators?  It  is  a  picked  assembly  of 

22 


The  Orator 

educated  gentlemen,  chosen  with  the  special 
view  to  obtaining  men  who,  having  thoughts 
that  burn,  are  further  endowed  with  the  gift 
of  giving  utterance  to  them  in  words  that 
breathe.  Shall  we  say  that  ten  in  the  hundred 
are  orators? — Five? — One?  Alack!  no.  I 
believe  that  if  we  dispassionately  and  critically 
discuss  the  individual  claims  of  these  653  gentle- 
men, we  shall  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  there 
are  not  more  than  two  who,  having  earned,  may 
wear  the  palm  of  oratory.  These  are,  Mr. 
Bright  and  Mr.  Gladstone. 

If  we  enlarge  the  term  "  oratory "  and 
narrow  its  meaning  to  "  Parliamentary  oratory," 
we  shall  be  able  to  include  Mr.  Disraeli  in  the 
review;  but  not  otherwise.  The  Prime  Minister 
is  a  successful  Parliamentary  speaker,  but  his 
oratorical  merits  do  not  range  higher.  He  lacks 
two  qualities  without  which  true  eloquence  is 
impossible — to  wit,  earnestness  and  sincere 
conviction.  Only  on  the  rarest  occasions 
he  even  affects  to  be  righteously  roused ; 
and  then  he  is  rather  amusing  than  other- 
wise. He  has  a  lively  fancy,  and  an  art, 
highly  and  carefully  cultivated,  of  coining 
polished  phrases,  generally  personal  in  their 
bearing.  When  these  are  flashed  forth  he 
carries  the  House  with  him.  For  the  rest 

23 


Men  and  Manner  in   Parliament 

he  is  even  dull.  Just  as  the  merits  of  the 
pudding  at  a  school  dinner  are  gauged  by  the 
frequency  of  the  plums  which  occur  in  a  slice, 
so  is  the  success  of  Mr.  Disraeli's  speeches 
measured  by  the  number  of  sparkling  sentences 
distributed  throughout  an  oration.  The  plums 
are  of  the  best,  but  the  pudding  is  unquestion- 
ably heavy  ;  and  of  course  the  actual  quantity 
of  the  latter  is  immeasurably  greater  than  that 
of  the  former.  There  are,  to  tell  the  truth,  few 
things  more  dreary  in  the  experience  of  a 
Session  in  the  House  of  Commons  than  a  long 
speech  from  Mr.  Disraeli.  At  short,  sharp 
replies  or  interrogations  he  is  supremely 
effective.  When  it  comes  to  a  long  speech 
the  lack  of  stamina  manifests  itself,  and  we  have 
something  which,  if  not  occasionally  incompre- 
hensible, is  often  involved.  To  cite  an 
instance  within  the  personal  recollection  of 
readers,  Was  any  one  able  to  follow  Mr. 
Disraeli  through  that  argument  about  indirect 
and  direct  taxation,  with  special  reference  to 
the  income  tax,  with  which  he  a  fortnight  before 
the  dissolution  bewildered  the  farmers  at  Ayles- 
bury  after  having  dined  with  them  at  their 
ordinary  ?  He  himself  evidently  staggered  under 
the  unwonted  weight  of  the  argument,  and 
finally  hustled  it  off  his  shoulders,  returning  with 

24 


BENJAMIN  DISRAELI,  AFTERWARDS   LORD   BEACONSFIELD. 
(1804-1881.) 


To  face  p.  24. 


The  Orator 

a  sense  of  relief,  in  which  his  audience  shared, 
to  a  lighter  style. 

No  one  has  more  accurately  gauged  Mr. 
Disraeli's  especial  abilities  than  has  Mr.  Disraeli 
himself.  He  is  at  his  best  when,  by  reason  of 
fortunate  circumstances,  he  is  so  powerful  that 
he  can  act  untrammelled  by  foreign  influence. 
We  see  proof  of  this  in  the  matter  of  making 
long  speeches.  Whilst  he  was  in  Opposition, 
the  leader  of  a  party  which  never  loved  him, 
to  which  he  is  linked  by  bonds  of  sympathy 
that  are  on  both  sides  artificial,  he  occasionally 
felt  it  incumbent  upon  him  to  make  long 
speeches.  Mr.  Gladstone  had  filled  the  House 
for  two  hours  or  more  with  a  flood  of  oratory, 
and  it  seemed  to  some  of  the  more  intelligent 
of  Conservatives  that  "  the  party "  were  not 
fairly  treated,  and  did  not  by  comparison  shine, 
if  their  leader  uttered  only  half  as  many  words 
and  occupy  the  attention  of  the  House  for 
but  one  moiety  of  the  time  engrossed  by  the 
other  side.  Mr.  Disraeli,  answering  gallantly 
to  the  impulse  of  the  spur,  has,  under  these 
circumstances,  spoken  for  two  hours  or  even 
more,  with  the  result  of  greatly  weakening  his 
argument,  and  damaging  his  cause  and  his 
reputation.  Since  his  advent  to  power  at  the 
head  of  a  great  majority,  he  has  felt  himself 

25 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

to  be  above  dictation,  and  the  result  has  been, 
that  although  the  necessity  for  his  making  set 
speeches  has  increased,  he  never  makes  a  long 
one.  During  the  Session  of  1874  there  were 
some  momentous  debates  in  which  the  Premier 
interposed  to  state  the  views  and  intentions  of 
the  Government.  On  no  occasion  did  he 
speak  at  so  much  as  an  hour's  length,  and  the 
majority  of  his  speeches  did  not  occupy  more 
than  half  an  hour  in  the  delivery.  What  was, 
take  it  for  all  in  all,  perhaps  the  cleverest 
speech  he  ever  delivered,  that  in  the  Home  Rule 
debate,  was  commenced  and  brought  to  a  con- 
clusion within  the  space  of  three-quarters  of  an 
hour.  The  consequence  of  this  freedom  to 
follow  the  bent  of  his  genius  is  recorded  in  the 
unanimous  verdict  of  the  journals  sitting  in 
judgment  on  the  Session — that  never  in  his  long 
career  did  Mr.  Disraeli  shine  more  brilliantly 
in  debate. 

It  is  a  defect  in  Mr.  Disraeli's  nature, 
regarding  him  as  a  debater,  that  he  is  con- 
stitutionally inexact.  He  will  take  up  a  phrase 
uttered  by  Mr.  Gladstone  or  some  other  adver- 
sary, and  whilst  yet  the  echoes  of  its  utterance 
linger  in  the  ears  of  his  audience,  he  will  para- 
phrase it  in  a  manner  that  wrenches  it  utterly 
from  its  original  meaning,  and  straightway  pro- 

26 


The  Orator 

ceed  to  argue,  answer,  ridicule,  and  denounce 
the  imaginary  statement.  Apart  from  the 
question  of  morality,  this  does  not  seem  to  be 
a  safe  or  judicious  line  of  action  in  respect  of 
oral  statements. 

Mr.  Disraeli  treats  historical  events  in 
precisely  the  same  manner.  If  there  is 
any  fact  in  the  history  of  public  men  for 
the  last  twenty  years  that  is  widely  known 
it  is  that  Mr.  Gladstone  was,  next  to  Lord 
Aberdeen  under  whom  he  served,  the  most  per- 
sistent opponent  of  British  participation  in  the 
Turko-Russian  quarrel  of  1853.  Yet  in  his 
speech  at  Aylesbury  already  referred  to  (which 
it  should  be  noted  extended  over  an  hour 
and  a  half),  Mr.  Disraeli  gave  the  electors  of 
Buckinghamshire  to  understand  that  Mr.  Glad- 
stone was  personally  and  solely  responsible  for 
the  Crimean  War !  A  later  instance  of  this 
audacious  paraphrasing  of  history  appears  in  the 
Premier's  speech  on  the  unveiling  of  the  statue 
of  Lord  Derby  in  Parliament  Square.  On  that 
occasion  he  claimed  for  the  late  Earl  that  he  had 
"  abolished  slavery,"  "  educated  Ireland,"  and 
rescued  from  failure  the  Reform  Bill  of  Earl 
Grey  and  Lord  John  Russell.  It  would  be  an 
interesting  and  instructive  task  to  review  the 
history  of  these  three  great  measures,  and  show 

27 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

exactly  what  part  the  late  Lord  Derby  took  in 
their    enactment.      But,    accomplished   however 
briefly,  it  is  obviously  beyond  the  scope  of  this 
sketch.     It  may  however  be  mentioned,  as  illus- 
trating the  mental  process  by  which  Mr.  Disraeli 
occasionally  arrives  at   paradoxical   and   hyper- 
bolical  statements,  that  Lord  Derby,  then    Mr. 
Stanley,    was    the    Secretary    of    State    for    the 
Colonies  in  the  Government  of  Earl  Grey  when 
the  question  of  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves 
in  the  West  Indies  was  finally  forced  upon  the 
Cabinet  by  the  pressure  of  public  opinion.     In 
this  capacity  Mr.  Stanley  had  charge  of  the  Bill 
of   Emancipation   in    the   House   of    Commons. 
This    fact    fixes    itself    in    Mr.    Disraeli's    mind 
and,  looking  far  over  the  heads  of  Wilberforce 
and   Clarkson   and    Buxton,   who  made   himself 
the   champion  of   the  cause  in    Parliament  and 
annually,  in  the  face  of  a  hostile  House,  brought 
forward  a  motion   for  the  abolition   of   slavery, 
he,    called   upon    forty   years   later    to   unveil   a 
statue  of  Lord  Derby,  hails  him  in  the  presence 
of  an  applauding  multitude  as  the  statesman  who 
"abolished  slavery"! 

Mr.  Disraeli's  manner  in  the  House  of 
Commons  is  one  strongly  marked,  and  is, 
doubtless  undesignedly,  calculated  to  increase 
the  personal  interest  which  has  for  more  than  a 

28 


The  Orator 

generation  been  taken  in  him  by  the  public. 
Either  because  his  colleagues  do  not  care  to 
chat  with  him,  or  because  he  discourages  private 
conversations  in  the  House,  he  invariably 
sits  apart  in  a  sort  of  grim  loneliness.  Mr. 
Gladstone  is,  except  when  he  sleeps,  rarely 
quiet  for  a  moment,  frequently  engaging  in 
conversation  with  those  near  him,  often  laughing 
heartily  himself,  and  being  the  cause  of  laughter 
in  his  interlocutors.  When  Mr.  Disraeli  enters 
the  House  and  takes  his  accustomed  seat,  he 
crosses  one  leg  over  the  other,  folds  his  arms, 
hangs  down  his  head,  and  so  sits  for  hours  at  a 
time  in  statuesque  silence.  When  he  rises  to 
speak,  he  generally  rests  his  hand  for  a  moment 
upon  the  table.  It  is  only  for  a  moment,  for 
he  invariably  endeavours  to  gain  the  ear  of  his 
audience  by  making  a  point  at  the  outset,  and 
the  attitude  which  he  finds  most  conducive  to 
the  happy  delivery  of  points  is  to  stand  balancing 
himself  upon  his  feet  with  his  hands  in  his  coat- 
tail  pockets.  In  this  position,  with  his  head 
hung  down  as  if  he  were  mentally  debating 
how  best  to  express  a  thought  just  occurred 
to  his  mind,  he  slowly  utters  the  polished 
and  poisoned  sentences  over  which  he  has 
spent  laborious  hours  in  the  closet.  Mr.  Bright 
is  a  great  phrase -maker,  and  comes  down 

29 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

to  the  House  with  the  gems  ready  cut  and 
polished  to  fit  in  the  setting  of  a  speech.  But 
no  one  could  guess  from  his  manner 
that  the  phrases  he  drops  in  as  he  goes  along 
are  fairly  written  out  on  a  slip  of  paper  carried 
in  his  waistcoat  pocket  as  he  crossed  the  bar 
of  the  House.  He  has  the  art  to  hide  his  art, 
and  his  hearers  may  well  fancy  as  they  watch 
him  speak  that  they  see  the  process  of  the 
formation  of  the  sentences  actually  going  on 
in  the  mind  of  the  orator,  all  aglow  as  it  is 
with  the  passion  of  eloquence.  The  merest 
tyro  in  the  House  knows  a  moment  beforehand 
when  Mr.  Disraeli  is  approaching  what  he 
regards  as  a  convenient  place  in  his  speech  for 
dropping  in  the  phrase -gem  he  pretends  to  have 
just  found  in  an  odd  comer  of  his  mind.  They 
see  him  leading  up  to  it ;  they  note  the  dis- 
appearance of  the  hands  in  the  direction  of  the 
coat-tail  pockets,  sometimes  in  search  of  the 
pocket-handkerchief,  which  is  brought  out  and 
shaken  with  a  light  and  careless  air,  oftenest 
to  extend  the  coat-tails,  whilst  with  body 
gently  rocked  to  and  fro,  and  an  affected 
hesitancy  of  speech,  he  produces  his  bon 
mot.  For  the  style  of  repartee  in  which  Mr. 
Disraeli  indulges — which  may,  be  described 
generally  as  a  sort  of  solemn  chaffing,  varied  by 

30' 


The  Orator 

strokes  of  polished  sarcasm — this  manner  is 
admirable,  in  proportion  as  it  has  been  seldom 
observed. 

.  But  it  is  monotonous  to  a  degree  per- 
haps exceeded  only  by  that  of  Mr.  Cardwell, 
who  during  his  last  speech  on  the  Army  Esti- 
mates was  timed  with  a  watch,  and  found  to 
go  through  the  following  series  of  oratorical  per- 
formances with  the  regularity  of  a  pendulum, 
preserving  throughout  an  hour  the  exact  time 
allotted  at  the  outset  to  each  manoeuvre  :  First, 
he  advanced  to  the  table  and  rested  upon  it, 
leaning  his  left  arm  upon  the  edge  ;  secondly, 
he  stood  bolt  upright  and  retired  half  a  pace 
from  the  table,  letting  his  arms  hang  stiffly  by 
his  side  ;  thirdly,  he  put  both  hands  out  and 
arranged  the  papers  before  him ;  fourthly,  he 
retired  a  full  pace,  folded  his  hands  behind  him 
under  his  coat-tails,  and  again  stood  bolt  up- 
right, looking  like  an  undertaker  who  had  called 
for  orders.  This  latter  was  his  favourite  posi- 
tion, and  he  remained  in  it  for  the  longest 
period.  When  the  time  came  to  forsake  it, 
he  advanced,  leaned  his  arm  upon  the  table, 
and  again  went  through  the  full  round  of 
graceful  action.  Mr.  Disraeli  is  not  as  bad  as 
this  ;  but  his  oratorical  movements  are  formed 
in  the  same  school,  and  are  spoiled  by  the  same 


Men  and    Manner  in  Parliament 

defects.  Not  being  an  orator  by  nature,  and 
knowing  the  necessity  of  some  action  while 
speaking,  he  stiffly  performs  a  series  of  bodily 
jerks,  which  are  as  much  like  the  easy, 
hatural  gestures  of  the  true  orator  as  is  the 
waddling  of  a  duck  across  a  stubble-field  like  the 
progress  of  a  swan  over  the  bosom  of  a  lake. 

Mr.  Bright,  the  orator  par  excellence  of  the 
'House  of  Commons,  is  almost  precisely  the 
moral  and  political  antithesis  of  Mr.  Disraeli. 
When  Mrs.  Sarah  Brydges  Willyams,  of 
Torquay,  left  Mr.  Disraeli  a  large  fortune  "  as 
an  expression  of  her  admiration  for  his  political 
principles,"  what  the  world  chiefly  wondered  at 
was,  not  the  legacy,  but  the  lady's  success  in 
idiscovering  what  Mr.  Disraeli's  political  prin- 
ciples were.  No  such  mystery  hangs  about  Mr. 
Bright.  Rightly  or  wrongly,  he  holds  certain 
views  of  how  the  British  Empire  ought  to  be 
governed.  Never  once  in  the  course  of  a 
long  career,  run  for  the  greater  part  under  the 
fierce  light  that  beats  upon  a  man  who  has 
achieved  power  and  fame  in  Parliament,  has 
he  departed  from  the  narrow  road  hedged  about 
by  the  principles  under  the  guidance  of  which 
he  entered  upon  public  life.  The  head  of  the 
late  Liberal  Government  has  been  "  the  rising 
hope  of  stern  and  unbending  Tories."  Mr. 

32 


The  Orator 

Disraeli,  the  present  Premier  of  a  Conservative 
Government,  was  described  thirty  years  ago  as 
"Mr.  D' Israeli,  who  has  now  been  thirteen 
years  more  or  less  prominently  before  the 
public  either  as  an  ultra-Radical,  seeking  to  be 
a  joint  of  O'Connell's  tail ;  as  a  Liberal, 
seeking  to  be  elected  for  a  Liberal  constituency 
under  the  auspices  of  Sir  E.  L.  Bulwer ; 
as  an  ultra-Tory  or  Tory  Radical,  actually 
representing  Shrewsbury."  Whilst  political 
animosity  has  passed  by  no  ditch  through  the 
mire  of  which  it  might  drag  Mr.  Bright,  it  has 
never  accused  him  of  speaking  with  an  uncertain 
sound,  or  of  having  upheld  yesterday  that  which 
he  denounces  to-day.  To  an  orator  this  atmo- 
sphere of  acknowledged  sincerity  and  honest  con- 
viction is  a  mighty  power.  All  men,  save  those 
of  a  low  and  illiberal  order  of  mind,  will  listen 
with  respect  to  one  who  propounds  a  theory, 
however  illogical  and  distasteful  it  may  be,  pro- 
vided they  discern,  or  think  they  discern,  that 
the  man  himself  is  very  much  in  earnest,  and 
is  an  honest  believer  in  his  own  statements. 
When  to  this  conviction  is  added  a  reputation 
slowly  built  up  on  the  realization  of  prophecies 
and  plans  set  forth  years  ago — then  derided  and 
hooted— it  will  be  understood  that  if  Mr.  Bright 
spoke  like  Lord  John  Manners,  and  gesticulated 

33  C 


Men  and    Manner  in  Parliament 

like  Mr.  Synan,  he  still  would  be  a  great  power 
in  Parliamentary  debate. 

To  this  strong  and  sure  foundation  of 
character  Mr.  Bright  adds  the  airy  graces  of 
oratory  that  make  the  structure  of  the  statesman 
complete.  His  manner  when  speaking  is  quiet 
and  subdued,  but  it  is  the  apparent  subjugation 
which  a  bar  of  iron  undergoes  when  it  passes 
from  the  red-hot  stage  to  the  condition  of  white 
heat.  The  red-hot  bar  splutters  and  sends  forth 
sparks,  and  is,  on  the  whole,  the  more  imposing 
to  the  passing  glance.  But  there  are  more  heat 
and  power  in  the  quiet -looking  bar  that  stead- 
fastly burns,  content  without  calling  attention 
to  the  process  by  occasionally  spluttering  forth 
an  ineffectual  shower  of  sparks.  In  the  course 
of  a  speech  Mr.  Bright  generally  manages  to 
say  some  things  damaging  to  his  opponents  and 
helpful  to  the  cause  he  advocates.  When 
he  sits  down,  there  is  invariably  a  feeling 
amongst  his  audience  that  he  has  by  no  means 
exhausted  himself,  but  could,  if  he  pleased,  have 
said  a  great  deal  more  that  would  have  been 
equally  effectual.  To  this  end  his  quiet,  self- 
possessed  manner  greatly  tends.  He  has  him- 
self well  in  hand  throughout  his  oration,  and 
therefore  maintains  his  hold  upon  his  audience. 
His  gestures  are  of  the  fewest ;  unlike  Mr. 

34 


JOHN   BRIGHT. 
(I8II-I889,) 

From  a  photograph  by  Rupert  Potter, 


[To  face  p. 


The  Orator 

Disraeli's,  they  always  seem  appropriate  and 
natural.  A  simple  wave  of  the  right  hand,  and 
the  sentence  is  emphasized.  Nature  has  gifted 
him  with  a  fine  presence  and  a  voice  the  like 
of  which  has  but  rarely  rung  through  the 
rafters  of  St.  Stephen's.  "  Like  a  bell  "  is  the 
illustration  usually  employed  in  the  endeavour 
to  convey  by  words  an  impression  of  its  music. 
I  think  it  were  better  to  say  "  like  a  peal 
of  bells,"  for  a  single  one  could  not  produce 
the  varied  tones  in  which  Mr.  Bright  suits  his 
expressions  to  his  theme.  On  the  whole  the 
dominant  note  is  one  of  pathos. 

Possibly  because  nearly  all  his  great  speeches 
have  been  made  when  he  has  been  pleading 
the  cause  of  the  oppressed  or  denouncing  a 
threatened  wrong,  a  tone  of  melancholy  can  be 
heard  running  through  all.  And  for  the  expres- 
sion of  pathos,  there  are  marvellously  touching 
tones  in  his  voice,  tones  which  carry  right  to 
the  listener's  heart  the  tender  thoughts  that  come 
glowing  from  the  speaker's  and  are  clad  in 
simple  words  as  they  pass  his  tongue.  Who 
that  heard  it  will  ever  forget  the  solemn 
sentence  that  fell  from  the  orator's  lips  nineteen 
years  ago,  when  the  Vienna  negotiations  for 
peace  with  Russia  promised  to  interrupt  the 
Crimean  War?  "The  Angel  of  Death  has  been 

35 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

abroad  throughout  the  land  ;  you  may  almost 
hear  the  beating  of  his  wings."  This  was 
a  biold  oratorical  flight  to  take  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  which  is  above  all  things  practical, 
and  kills  by  good  hearty  laughter  any  approach 
to  mere  sentimentality.  For  a  moment  the 
success  of  the  imagery  was  doubtful.  The 
House  trembled  between  laughter  and  tears. 
"  If  you  had  said  the  flapping  of  its  wings," 
said  Mr.  Cobden  to  Mr.  Bright,  as  they 
walked  home  together  after  the  speech,  "  we 
should  have  gone  into  a  fit  of  laughter." 
Mr.  Bright  had  selected  the  right  word,  had 
fitted  it  in  the  right  place,  and  the  true  pathos 
of  the  tones  in  which  the  sentence  was  slowly 
spoken  carried  it  far  above  the  level  of  laughter. 
Mr.  Bright  is  not  only  the  greatest  master 
of  pathos  in  the  House  of  Commons,  he  is  also 
the  greatest  humorist.  He  does  not  lay  him- 
self out  to  be  "  funny,"  like  Mr.  Bernal 
Osborne,  or  even  like  Mr.  Disraeli,  who  is 
nothing  if  not  amusing.  His  humorous 
sayings  come  spontaneously,  and  seem,  when 
they  are  fitted  into  the  speech  he  is  building 
up,  as  if  they  had  been  chosen  on  the  spot 
because  they  were  the  very  stones  that  gave  to 
the  structure  an  added  symmetry  and  strength  ; 
and  not,  as  in  other  hands  good  things  often 

36 


The  Orator 

look,  as  if  they  were  ornamental  bricks  fashioned 
at  home  with  loving  care  and  carried  about 
wrapped  up  in  tissue  paper  lest  they  should  get 
scratched  or  have  their  meretricious  glaze 
dimmed.  I  have  no  doubt  that  Mr.  Bright  pre- 
pares the  bons  mots  of  his  great  speeches  as 
carefully  as  any  other  man.  But  there  is  this 
difference  between  him  and  some  others — 
they  are  palpably  relieved  when  they  have  safely 
delivered  themselves  of  their  treasures,  whereas 
Mr.  Bright,  whilst  he  does  justice  by  emphasis 
to  his  own  points,  is  never  himself  dazzled  by 
their  brightness.  When  Sir  William  Harcourt 
was  Mr.  Vernon  Harcourt  he  often  enlivened 
a  debate  by  some  really  sparkling  epigrams  ; 
but  their  force  was  more  than  half  lost  upon 
the  House  by  the  circumstance  that  the  speaker 
was  himself  so  tickled  with  his  own  fancies  that 
he  generally  prefaced  their  expression  by  an 
audible  chuckle.  Mr.  Blight's  humour  is  not 
sardonic  like  Mr.  Disraeli's.  It  resembles 
it  inasmuch  as  its  manifestations  have  chiefly 
been  in  the  direction  of  hitting  off  some 
person  or  party  by  a  single  phrase,  in  Mr. 
Bright's  case  containing  a  parallel  or  a  com- 
parison drawn  from  a  source  familiar  to  the 
least  educated  mind.  Two  at  least  of  his  happiest 
strokes  of  this  sort  have  their  inspiration  from 

37 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

the  Bible.  Had  Mr.  Lowe  wanted  to  say  some- 
thing damaging  about  Mr.  Bright,  he  would, 
in  all  probability,  have  looked  through  his 
Homer  or  his  Horace  for  an  illustration.  When 
Mr.  Bright  desired,  during  the  debate  on  the 
Reform  Bill,  to  cover  with  ridicule  the  clique 
of  which  Mr.  Lowe  was  the  head,  he  bethought 
him  of  David's  escape  from  Achish,  King  of 
Gath,  and  the  character  of  the  people  who  sub- 
sequently forgathered  with  him  in  the  Cave 
of  Adullarri,  and  a  new  name  was  added  to 
the  political  vocabulary.  When,  pending  the 
General  Election,  he  had  occasion  to  complain 
of  the  determined  dissatisfaction  of  the  Con- 
servatives, he  again  turned  to  the  classical  book 
of  the  people,  and  on  the  morrow  all  England 
was  laughing  at  the  party  who,  "  if  they  had 
been  in  the  wilderness,  would  have  complained 
of  the  Ten  Commandments  as  a  harassing  piece 
of  legislation." 

His  illustrations,  when  drawn  from  other 
sources,  are  equally  homely,  and,  therefore, 
effective.  Thus,  when  he  dubbed  Mr.  Dis- 
raeli "  the  mystery  man  of  the  Ministry," 
and  when  he  likened  Mr.  Lowe  and  Mr. 
.Horsman  to  a  Scotch  terrier,  "  of  which  no  one 
could  with  certainty  say  which  was  the  head 
and  which  the  tail,"  everybody  could  compre- 

38 


llie  Orator 

he'nd  and  enjoy  the  reference.  The  fearful  sting' 
contained  in  his  casual  remark  about  Sir  Charles 
Adderley  in  a  letter  to  a  ;correspondent  who  had 
brought  under  his  notice  a  misrepresentation  of 
fact  in  which  Sir  Chr  -  les  had  permitted  him- 
self to  indulge—  "  I  nope  he  thought  he  was 
speaking  the  truth  out  he  is  rather  a  dull  man, 
and  is  liable  to  make  blunders  " —will  be  best 
appreciated  by  those  who  know  the  right 
hon.  baronet.  But  the  volume  of  sarcasm 
hidden  in  the  parenthetical  remark  about  the 
gentleman's  ancestors  who  came  over  with  the 
Conqueror—  "  I  never  heard  that  they  did  any- 
thing else'" —is  plain  reading  for  all.  So  is 
the  well -merited  retort  upon  a  noble  lord 
who,  during  a  time  when  Mr.  Bright  was 
temporarily  laid  aside  by  illness,  took  the  oppor- 
tunity of  publicly  declaring  that,  by  way  of 
punishment  for  the  uses  he  had  made  of  his 
talents,  Providence  had  inflicted  upon  him 
a  disease  of  the  brain.  '  It  may  be  so," 
said  Mr.  Bright  to  the  House  of  Commons 
when  he  came  back  ;  "  but  in  any  case,  it  will 
be  some  consolation  to  the  friends  and  family 
of  the  noble  lord  to  know  that  the  disease  is 
one  which  even  Providence  could  not  inflict 
upon  him." 

In  comparing  Mr.  Gladstone  with  Mr.  Bright 

39 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

it  would  be  just  to  say,  rather  that  he  has  made 
more  faulty  speeches  than  Mr.  Bright,  than  that 
Mr.  Bright  has  made  some  greater  speeches  than 
Mr.  Gladstone.  Taken  speech  for  speech,  it 
is  probable  that  we  should  find  in  the  collection 
of  Mr.  Gladstone's  orations  twenty  that  would 
not  suffer  by  comparison  with  any  score  of  Mr. 
Bright's.  But  Mr.  Bright's  speeches  are 
always  oratorical  successes,  and  Mr.  Gladstone's 
are  not.  This  is  obviously  the  fault  of 
long  held  official  position,  which  called  upon 
him  to  make  speeches  at  all  seasons  and 
upon  all  possible  subjects,  whereas  Mr. 
Bright  has  been  accustomed  to  speak  only 
when  he  felt  "  a  call,"  and  has  been  at  liberty 
to  choose  his  own  subjects.  Mr.  Gladstone's 
official  position  is  further  responsible  for  a  defect 
in  his  oratorical  style  which  would  be  fatal  to 
a  man  of  less  oratorical  genius.  A  man 
speaking  from  the  Opposition  Benches  or  below 
the  gangway  on  either  side  has  an  immense 
advantage  over  one  who  is  handicapped  because 
he  has  won  a  race  that  landed  him  on  the 
Treasury  Bench.  Mr.  Lowe  thus  weighted 
was  a  very  different  person  from  the  brilliant 
free-lance  who  used  to  smite  hip  and  thigh  any 
force  he  might  chance  to  find  in  any  field  he 
rode  by.  Mr.  Gladstone  was  for  many  years 

40 


The  Orator 

equally  fettered,  but  he  wore  his  chains  in  a 
different  manner.  Mr.  Lowe  can  do  very  well 
without  speaking,  and  would  cheerfully  draw  his 
quarterly  salary,  sit  on  the  Treasury  Bench  from 
February  to  July,  and  never  open  his  lips  in 
debate.  That  is  a  state  of  affairs  under  which 
Mr.  Gladstone  simply  could  not  exist.  He  is, 
constitutionally,  perpetually  in  that  condition  in 
which  Justice  Shallow  found  himself  when  chal- 
lenged by  Pistol  to  declare  "  under  which 
King  "  he  held  his  authority — he  must  "  speak 
or  die."  > 

During  the  troublesome  times  of  the  Ses- 
sion of  1873,  Mr.  Gladstone  was  daily  one 
of  the  first  to  take  his  seat  on  the  Treasury 
Bench  and  the  last  to  leave  it.  Whilst  there 
he  talked  for  himself  and  all  his  colleagues.  It 
has  been  said  by  an  adverse  critic  that  under 
his  administration  the  Government  was  simply 
a  dictatorship,  with  a  set  of  clerks  sitting  at 
desks  labelled  "  Secretary  of  State  for  War," 
"  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,"  "  Chancellor  of 
the  Exchequer,"  etc.,  whose  function  it  was 
occasionally  to  supply  data  for  the  declarations 
of  the  Dictator.  This  is  quite  as  true  as  are 
the  average  of  caricatures,  for  it  has  not  unfre- 
quently  happened  that,  in  the  case  of  questions 
naturally  put  to  the  head  of  one  or  other  of 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

the  State  Departments,  Mr.  Gladstone  has  risen 
from  the  side  of  the  hon.  or  right  hon.  gentle- 
man addressed  and  taken  on  himself  the  task 
of  furnishing  an  answer.  His  impromptu  replies 
were  on  the  average  equal  in  length  and 
ponderosity  to  an  ordinary  man's  set  speech.  It 
follows  that  sometimes  the  newspapers,  reporting 
debates  in  Parliament,  have  on  a  single  morn- 
ing presented  as  many  as  six  speeches  from 
Mr.  Gladstone  on  various  subjects.  This 
unhappy  propensity  for  talking  fostered  a 
defect  faintly  discernible  in  his  earlier  and 
better  manner.  His  native  wealth  of  words  is 
unbounded.  He  can  say  "twice  two  are  four" 
in  half  a  dozen  ways,  each  varied  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  sentence,  and  yet  each  so  cun- 
ningly linked  to  the  other  that  if  we  might 
forget  the  simple  obviousness  of  the  fact 
originally  asserted,  we  could  not  fail  to  be 
struck  with  admiration  for  the  skill  by  which 
we  were  being  led  through  various  avenues  all 
converging  on  the  one  point  that  two  and  two 
really  make  four.  Reasonably  confident  as  he 
may  well  be  of  his  verbal  resources,  Mr.  Glad- 
stone springs  up  to  answer  a  question  affecting 
his  administration,  and  pours  forth  a  flood  of 
talk  in  which,  as  in  a  whirlpool,  the  bewildered 
listener  is  carried  round  and  round  till  such  time 

42 


The  Orator 

as  the  speaker  has  fully  resolved  the  question  in 
his  own  mind  and  decided  what  he  shall  say, 
which  done,  the  rotatory  motion  ceases,  and  the 
matter  is  disposed  of  in  a  sentence. 

This  is  a  great  gift — to  be  able  to  talk 
what  sounds  like  sense,  to  seem  to  be 
really  answering  a  question,  and  yet  to 
commit  yourself  to  nothing  till  such  time  as 
you  have  deliberately  decided  what  you  may 
judiciously  say.  But  its  exercise  should  be 
spared  for  great  occasions.  Mr.  Gladstone 
avails  himself  of  it  continually,  and  by  force  of 
habit  it  has  coloured  his  whole  style,  making 
it  verbose  and  involved.  It  is  said  that  up  in 
the  Press  Gallery  the  reporters,  whilst  they  are 
in  the  habit  of  following  out  the  meaning  of 
ordinary  speakers  as  sentence  by  sentence  they 
evolve  it,  give  up  the  task  in  the  case  of  Mr. 
Gladstone.  It  is  often  hopeless  to  endeavour  to 
discern  for  what  goal  his  sentences,  with  their 
involutions,  their  qualifications,  and  their 
parenthetical  subdivisions,  are  bound.  As  he 
has  usually  to  be  reported  in  full,  ,the  sentences 
are  mechanically  taken  down  in  shorthand  with 
the  hope  that  they  "  will  read  "  when  they  come 
to  be  written  out.  And  this  is  a  hope 
never  falsified.  The  lengthiest  and  most 
portentous  sentences  always  have  a  clear  and 

43 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

distinct  thread  of  meaning  running  through 
them,  and  may  be  written  out  for  the 
press  as  they  are  taken  down  from  his 
lips  without  the  alteration  of  a  single  word. 
The  pity  of  it  is  that  the  thread  is  painfully 
attenuated  in  consequence  of  being  stretched 
over  such  an  unconscionably  long  course. 

It  is  in  a  great  debate,  when  the  armies  of 
political  parties  are  set  in  battle  array,  that  Mr. 
Gladstone's  transcendent  abilities  as  an  orator 
alone  have  full  play.  When  before  rising  to 
speak  he  has  definitely  made  up  his  mind  which 
of  "  three  "  or  more  "  courses  "  he  shall  take, 
and  has  nothing  to  do  but  declare  his  colours, 
build  around  them  a  rampart  of  argument,  and 
seek  to  rally  to  them  halting  friends,  then  the 
marvellous  clearness  of  his  perception  and  his 
supreme  ability  for  rnaking  dark  places  light  is 
disclosed.  After  purporting  to  answer  a  simple 
question,  and  taking  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
to  do  it  in,  he  has  sometimes  sat  down 
leaving  the  House  in  a  condition  of  dismayed 
bewilderment,  hopelessly  attempting  to  grope  its 
way  through  the  intricacies  of  the  sonorous 
sentences  it  has  been  listening  to.  But  if  he 
desires  to  make  himself  understood,  there  is  no 
one  who  can  better  effect  the  purpose. 

There    are    few    instances    of    a    Government 

44 


WILLIAM    EVVART   GLADSTONE. 


(1809-1898.) 


[To  faci  p.  44. 


The  Orator 

measure  which  met  with  more  determined  and 
diversely  motived  opposition  than  the  Irish  Uni- 
versity Bill  introduced  in  the  Session  of  1873.  It 
is  a  matter  of  history  that  it  broke  the  power  of 
the  strongest  Ministry  that  has  ruled  England 
in  these  latter  days.  The  provisions  of  the 
measure  were  singularly  intricate,  but  when  Mr. 
Gladstone  sat  down  after  speaking  for  upwards 
of  three  hours  in  explanation  of  the  measure, 
he  had  not  only  made  it  clear  from  preamble 
to  schedule,  but  he  had  momentarily  talked  the 
House  of  Commons  over  into  belief  that  this 
was  a  Bill  it  would  do  well  to  accept.  Mr. 
Horsman  has  been  much  laughed  at  because 
whilst  the  glamour  of  this  great  speech  was  still 
strong  upon  him,  he  wrote  an  enthusiastic  letter 
to  The  Tinies  hailing  Mr.  Gladstone  and  his 
Bill  as  among  'the  most  notable  of  recent  dis- 
pensations of  a  beneficent  Providence :  words 
which  he  subsequently  ate  in  the  presence  of  a 
crowded  House.  But  Mr.  Horsman  differed 
from  seven -eighths  of  the  House  of  Commons 
only  in  this,  that  he  put  pen  to  paper  whilst 
he  was  yet  under  the  influence  of  the  orator's 
spell,  whereas  the  rest  of  the  members  contented 
themselves  by  verbal  and  private  expressions  of 
opinion . 

Mr.    Gladstone's  oratorical   manner   is  much 

45 


Men  and   Manner   in  Parliament 

more  strongly  marked  by  action  than  is  Mr. 
Bright's.  He  emphasizes  by  smiting  his  right 
hand  in  the  open  palm  of  his  left ;  by  pointing 
his  finger  straight  out  at  his  adversary,  real  or 
representative  ;  and,  in  his  hottest  moments,  by 
beating  the  table  with  his  clenched  hand. 
Sometimes  in  answer  to  cheers  he  turns 
right  round  to  his  supporters  on  the 
benches  behind  him,  and  speaks  directly  to 
them  ;  whereupon  the  Conservatives,  who  hugely 
enjoy  a  baiting  of  the  emotional  ex-Premier, 
call  out  "  Order  !  order  !  "  This  call  seldom 
fails  in  the  desired  effect  of  exciting  the  right 
hon.  gentleman's  irascibility,  and  when  he  loses 
his  temper  his  opponents  may  well  be  glad. 
Mr.  Bright  always  writes  out  the  peroration,  of 
his  speeches,  and  at  one  time  was  accustomed 
to  send  the  slip  of  paper  to  the  reporters.  Mr. 
Disraeli  sometimes  writes  out  the  whole  of  his 
speeches.  The  one  he  delivered  to  the  Glasgow 
students  in  November,  1873,  was  in  tvPe  m  me 
office  of  a  London  newspaper  at  the  moment 
the  right  hon.  gentleman  was  speaking  at  the 
University.  Mr.  Gladstone  never  writes  a  line 
of  his  speeches,  and  some  of  his  most  successful 
ones  have  been  made  in  the  heat  of  debate,  and 
necessarily  without  preparation.  His  speech  in 
winding  up  the  debate  on  the  Irish  University 


The  Orator 

Bill  has  rarely  been  excelled  for  close  reasoning, 
brilliant  illustration,  and  powerful  eloquence. 
Yet  if  it  be  referred  to  it  will  be  seen  that  it 
is  for  the  greater  and  best  part  a  reply  lo  the 
speech  of  Mr.  Disraeli,  who  had  just  sat  down, 
yielding  the  floor  to  his  rival  half  an  hour  after 
midnight. 

Evidence  of  the  same  swift  reviewing  of  a 
position,  and  of  the  existence  of  the  same 
power  of  instantly  marshalling  arguments  and 
illustrations,  sending  them  forth  clad  in  a 
panoply  of  eloquence,  is  apparent  in  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's speech  when  commenting  on  Mr. 
Disraeli's  announcement  of  the  withdrawal  of 
the  main  portion  of  the  Endowed  Schools  Act 
Amendment  Bill.  The  announcement,  and 
especially  the  manner  in  which  it  was  made, 
was  a  surprise  that  almost  stunned  and 
momentarily  bewildered  the  House  of  Commons. 
Mr.  Gladstone  was  bound  to  speak,  and  to 
speak,  the  moment  Mr.  Disraeli  resumed  his 
seat.  He  had  no  opportunity  to  take  counsel, 
and  no  time  to  make  preparations  for  his 
speech ;  but  the  result  of  his  masterly  oration 
at  this  crisis  was  that  the  unpopularity  and 
dissatisfaction  created  by  the  course  he  had 
taken  in  the  matter  of  the  Regulation  of  Public 
Worship  Bill  melted  like  snow  in  the  firelight, 

47 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

and  the  conviction  was  borne  in  upon  his  dis- 
contented followers  that  as  long  as  Mr. 
Gladstone  lived  and  chose  to  hold  the  office, 
there  was  no  other  Leader  possible  for  the 
Liberal  party. 

It  is  speeches  like  these  that  add  poignancy 
to  the  regret  with  which  we  think  of  Mr. 
Gladstone's  every-day  style  of  talking,  and  that 
cause  us  eagerly  to  welcome  the  signs  visible  in 
the  records  of  the  Session  of  1874  that,  relieved 
from  the  trammels  of  office  and  the  fancied 
necessity  for  incessant  speechmaking,  he  may 
hereafter  be  content  to  speak  less  frequently  and 
in  fewer  words. 


4s 


CHAPTER   II 
THE    OFFICIAL    MEMBER 

A  man  to  be  excellent  in  this  way  must  not  only  be 
variously  gifted,  but  his  gifts  should  be  nicely  propor- 
tioned to  one  another.  He  must  have  in  a  high  degree 
prudence,  not  merely  of  a  cautious  and  quiescent  order, 
but  that  which  being  ever  actively  engaged,  is  more 
fitly  called  discretion  than  prudence.  Such  a  man 
must  have  an  almost  ignominious  love  of  details,  blended 
(and  this  is  a  rare  combination)  with  a  high  power  of 
imagination,  enabling  him  to  look  along  extended  lines 
of  possible  action  and  put  these  details  in  their  right 
places.  He  requires  a  great  knowledge  of  character, 
with  that  exquisite  tact  which  feels  unerringly  the 
right  moment  when  to  act. 

SIR  ARTHUR  HELPS. 

No  one  familiar  with  the  present  House  of 
Commons  and  with  that  it  has  superseded 
can  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  difference  in  the 
atmosphere  of  the  two  assemblies.  The  House 
dispersed  by  the  dissolution  that  startled  the 
world  in  January,  1874,  seemed  built  over  a 

49  D 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

volcano,    or,    to    adopt    a  more    strictly    Parlia- 
mentary illustration,  on  cellars  filled  with  gun- 
powder.      No    member    sticking    his    card    in 
the    back    of    his    seat    before    prayers    on    a 
given    day    could    feel    positively    assured    that 
before     his     temporary     lease     had     lapsed     a 
Ministerial     crisis     might     not     have     arrived. 
Crises    more    or    less    serious    were    of    weekly 
occurrence,    and   if    the   number   of    times    Mr. 
Gladstone     declared     that     he     should     regard 
the   current   proceedings   as   a  vote   of   want   of 
confidence  in  Her  Majesty's  Ministers  could  be 
ascertained    and   summed    up   the   result    would 
be    astounding.      There    were    so   many    latent 
questions  of  prime  importance  strewed  over  the 
floor  of  the   House,   that   hon.   members    could 
scarcely  go  about  their  ordinary  business  with- 
out   treading   upon   one    of  them.      One    night, 
for    example,    during    a    drowsy    discussion    in 
Committee    on    the    Juries    Bill,    Mr.    Magniac 
suddenly,    and    I    believe    unconsciously,   raised 
the  whole  question  of  Local  Taxation.      It  was 
at     the     dinner     hour,     when     scarcely     fifteen 
members  were  present,  of  whom,  as  it  unfortu- 
nately happened,   Mr.    Gladstone  was   one.      A 
more    adroit    leader    would,    in    all    probability, 
have     prolonged     the     slumber     in     which     he 
appeared    to    be     locked    while    Mr.     Magniac 

50 


The  Official  Member 

was  speaking,  and  would  have  -  trusted  to 
the  real  tendency  of  the  amendment  escaping 
the  attention  of  the  House,  as  it  had  evidently 
escaped  that  of  the  mover.  If  it  came  to  a 
division  its  rejection  was  certain,  and  the  whole 
matter  might  have  been  comfortably  disposed 
of  before  Mr.  Disraeli  came  back  from  dinner. 
Mr.  Gladstone  moved  uneasily  in  his  sleep 
as  the  sound  of  the  speaker's  voice  floated  round 
him.  Presently  he  was  wide  awake  and  had 
caught  the  full  meaning  of  the  amendment, 
which  indirectly  sought  to  pledge  the  Govern- 
ment to  a  distinct  policy  in  a  matter  on  which  they 
had  not  yet  declared  themselves.  Mr.  Stansfeld 
was  sent  for,  and  after  a  brief  consultation  the 
Premier  was  on  his  legs,  earnestly  combating 
the  arguments  of  Mr.  Magniac,  much  to  the 
marvel  of  the  odd  thirteen  sleeping  members 
and  to  the  surprise  of  the  hon.  member  for 
St.  Ives,  who  learnt  for  the  first  time  that  he,  a 
good  '  Ministerialist,  had  been  talking  treason. 
Instantly  all  was  animation  in  the  lobbies,  the 
library,  the  dining-room,  and  the  tea-room.  Mr. 
Disraeli  was  summoned ;  the  front  Opposition 
Bench  filled,  as  if  by  magic ;  the  House  was 
thronged ;  an  animated  discussion  arose,  and 
about  midnight  Mr.  Gladstone  was  compelled 
to  consent  to  the  reporting  of  progress,  and  the 

51 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

debate  was  adjourned  with  a  view  to  the 
marshalling  of  forces  for  a  pitched  battle.  In 
the  meantime  the  Juries  Bill,  which  otherwise 
might  on  this  night  have  passed  through  Com- 
mittee, was  temporarily  shelved. 

This  is  one  of  a  score  of  instances  that  crowd 
upon  the  recollection  as  we  think  of  the  late 
House  of  Commons  and  of  the  electrical 
atmosphere  it  breathed.  We  have  changed 
all  that  with  the  change  of  Ministry.  The 
present  House  of  Commons,  as  far  as  it  has  at 
present  developed  its  characteristics,  is,  except 
in  'matters  affecting  religious  beliefs,  a  sober, 
business-like  assembly,  that  comes  down  to  get 
a  certain  amount  of  work  performed,  and  is 
chiefly  concerned  to  run  through  it  as  quickly 
as  possible,  and  "  so  home  to  bed."  For  this 
marked  alteration  in  demeanour  the  change  in 
the  personnel  of  the  Ministry  is  undoubtedly 
principally  accountable.  It  is  impossible  to  con- 
ceive a  more  complete  contrast  than  that  pre- 
sented by  the  principal  men  in  the  late  and 
the  present  Governments.  Mr.  Disraeli  vice  Mr. 
Gladstone,  Sir  Stafford  Northcote  vice  Mr. 
Lowe,  Mr.  Hardy  vice  Mr.  Cardwell,  Mr.  Ward 
Hunt  vice  Mr.  Goschen,  Lord  George  Hamilton 
vice  Mr.  Grant  Duff,  Sir  Michael  Hicks-Beach 
vice  the  Marquis  of  Harrington,  Mr.  Cross  vice 

52 


The  Official  Member 

Mr.  Austin  Bruce,  Lord  Henry  Lennox  vice  Mr. 
Ayrton  !  Is  not  the  marshalling  of  these  names 
a  chapter  in  itself?  Both  the  men  and  the 
circumstances  under  which  public  affairs  are 
administered  are  radically  the  opposites  of  each 
other.  All  Mr.  Gladstone's  colleagues  were 
stars,  and  all  his  undertakings  heroic.  Mr. 
Disraeli  appears  to  have  so  selected  the  bulk 
of  his  colleagues  that  he  might  paraphrase  the 
famous  boast  attributed  to  Lord  Brougham — 
"  The  Whigs  are  all  ciphers  and  I  am  the  only 
unit  in  the  Cabinet  that  gives  a  value  to  them." 
He  has  been  content  to  surround  himself  with 
men  of  whom,  as  individuals,  no  great  things 
are  expected,  and  his  policy  upon  taking  office, 
a  policy  approved  by  a  nation  somewhat  wearied 
out  by  the  rack  of  expectancy  upon  which  it 
had  been  stretched  for  the  preceding  five  years, 
was  to  do  nothing  in  a  manner  as  harmless  and 
as  pleasant  as  possible. 

Let  us  alone.     Time  driveth  onward  fast, 
And  in  a  little  while  our  lips  are  dumb. 
Let  us  alone.     What  is  it  that  will  last  ? 
All  things  are  taken  from  us 

(including  the  Irish  Church  revenues,  the  right 
of  the  Irish  landlord  to  do  what  he  liked  with 
his  own,  the  privilege  of  purchase  in  the  army, 

53 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

the  right  to  know  how  our  dependents  vote, 
and,  virtually,  the  control  of  the  education  of 
our  poorer  neighbour's  children)— 

All  things  are  taken  from  us  and  become 
Portions  and  parcels  of  the  dreadful  past. 
Let  us  alone.     What  pleasure  can  we  have 
To  war  with  evil  ?     Is  there  any  peace 
In  ever  climbing  up  the  climbing  wave  ? 

This  slumberous,  petulant  murmur  of  the  Lotos - 
eaters  expresses  fairly  enough  the  spirit  of  the 
Ministry  when  first  seated  on  the  Treasury 
Bench,  and,  up  to  within  the  last  six  weeks  of 
the  close  of  the  Session,  it  succeeded  in  per- 
vading the  House  of  Commons  in  a  manner 
marvellous  to  behold. 

For  such  a  policy  as  is  herein  indicated  Mr. 
Disraeli  is  a  Heaven -bom  leader.  He  possesses 
in  a  remarkable  degree  the  great  gift  of  silence, 
which  is  absolutely  requisite  in  a  Minister 
leading  the  House  of  Commons  in  epochs  like 
that  which  succeeded  the  vigorous  and  soaring 
Government  of  Mr.  Gladstone.  It  has  always 
been  the  fatal  fault  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  regarded 
as  a  Parliamentary  leader,  that  he  could  not 
from  time  to  time  sit  still  and  say  nothing.  Mr. 
Disraeli  can,  and  the  advantage  he  has  hereby 
occasionally  gained  over  his  great  rival  has  been 

54 


The  Official  Member 

enormous.  There  is  a  passage  in  Coningsby- - 
a  book  which  opens  more  windows  looking  on 
the  soul  of  Mr.  Disraeli  than  are  to  be  found 
in  all  his  other  utterances  bound  in  a  volume — 
which  recurs  to  the  mind  in  a  study  of  the 
Premier  as  a  Parliamentary  leader.  "  A  leader 
who  can  inspire  enthusiasm,"  says  the  author, 
"  he  commands  the  world.  Divine  faculty ! 
Rare  and  incomparable  privilege  !  A  Parlia- 
mentary leader  who  possesses  it  doubles  his 
majority  ;  and  he  who  has  it  not  may  shroud 
himself  in  artificial  reserve,  but  he  will  never- 
theless be  as  far  from  controlling  the  spirit  as 
from  captivating  the  hearts  of  his  sullen  fol- 
lowers." The  preface  to  the  volume  in  which 
this  passage  occurs  is  dated  exactly  thirty  years 
ago.  "May  Day,  1844,"  wrote  Mr.  Disraeli, 
little  dreaming  how  a  quarter  of  a  century  later 
this  curious  fashion  of  dating  epistles  should  in 
the  case  of  "  Maundy  Thursday "  create  quite 
a  sensation  throughout  the  empire  and  lead  to 
the  penning  of  innumerable  leading  articles. 
Mr.  Disraeli  was  at  the  period  a  young  man, 
shining  in  Parliament  and  society  it  is  true,  but 
with  a  glittering  uncertain  light  that  did  not 
inspire  in  the  mind  of  the  unprejudiced  beholder 
confidence  in  its  continuance.  Like  his  own 
Coningsby,  he  had  a  circle  of  attached  friends, 

55 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

"  all  men  whose  position  forced  them  into 
public  life,"  forming  "  a  nucleus  of  honour, 
faith,  and  power,"  and  lacking  only  a  leader 
who  would  "  dare."  It  is  conceivable  that  at 
this  epoch  Mr.  Disraeli  set  out  with  the  hope 
of  "  inspiring  enthusiasm  "  and  so  "  commanding 
the  world."  The  effort,  if  made,  is  one  in 
which  he  has  conspicuously  failed,  and  in  the 
picture  he  drew  thirty  years  ago  of  the  leader 
shrouding  himself  in  artificial  reserve  we  have 
a  curiously  exact  portrait  of  himself,  whilst 
he  sketches'  Mr.  Gladstone  in  the  opposite 
panel. 

Happily  for  the  Premier,  the  power  of 
inspiring  enthusiasm  is  not  needed  for  the 
discharge  of  the  official  duties  of  a  leader 
of  the  House  of  Commons.  In  fact,  its 
possession  is  in  this  connection  actually  detri- 
mental. Partly  for  this  reason  Mr.  Disraeli, 
as  an  official  member,  stands  as  far  above  Mr. 
Gladstone  as  Mr.  Gladstone,  regarded  as  an 
orator,  towers  above  Mr.  Disraeli.  The  one  has 
a  tact,  a  ready  wit,  and  an  imperturbability  of 
temper  of  which  the  other  has  often  shown 
himself  distressingly  deficient.  As  a  statesman. 
Lord  Palmerston  fell  far  short  of  the  just 
renown  of  Mr.  Gladstone  ;  but  when  we  think 
of  the  qualities  by  which  Lord  Palmerston  ruled 

56 


The  Official   Member 

the  House  of  Commons,  and  mentally  compare 
them  with  the  temperament  of  the  author  of 
the  Irish  Land  Bill  and  the  Irish  Church  Bill, 
we  perceive  why  under  the  leadership  of  the 
latter  the  House  should  often  have  grown 
riotous,  and  how  it  came  to  pass  that  the  pro- 
gress of  public  business  has  frequently  been 
delayed.  Mr.  Gladstone  always  took  matters 
an  serieux.  He  answered  an  interrogation  by 
a  speech,  had  "  three  courses "  for  choice  in 
the  most  trivial  dilemma,  and,  forgetting  that 
it  is  not  the  business  of  eagles  to  catch  flies, 
thrust  himself  into  debates  which  were  far  better 
left  to  the  subordinate  officers  of  his  Government. 
Had  he  been  on  the  Treasury  Bench  when, 
one  night  in  the  Session  of  1874,  Mr. 
Whalley  proposed  to  add  two  names  to  a  Com- 
mittee on  Privileges,  he  would  almost  certainly 
have  opposed  the  motion,  stating  his  reasons  in 
a  convincing  speech.  Mr.  Whalley  would  have 
risen  to  speak,  a  scene  of  uproar  would 
have  followed,  and  much  valuable  time  would 
have  been  lost.  Mr.  Disraeli,  perceiving  at  a 
glance  that  it  did  not  matter  the  toss  of  a 
button  whether  the  two  gentlemen  named  by 
Mr.  Whalley  were  on  or  off  the  Committee, 
simply  said  that  he  "  saw  no  objection  to  the 
proposal,"  and  it  was  settled  in  five  minutes. 

57 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

The  Premier  does  not  aspire  to  the  jaunty 
manner  of  Lord  Palmerston  in  dealing  with 
official  work  in  the  House ;  but  he  has  an  easy 
conversational  way  of  disposing  of  it  which  is 
not  less  efficacious,  and  he  carefully  distin- 
guishes between  the  duty  of  making  a  speech 
and  the  accident  of  answering  a  question.  He 
is  a  much  less  anxious  man  than  his  predecessor 
in  office,  and  with  him  on  the  box  there  is 
considerably  less  creaking  of  the  wheels  of  the 
chariot  of  State  than  we  have  been  accustomed 
to  during  recent  Sessions. 

Regarded  on  the  higher  ground  of  a  tactician, 
Mr.  Gladstone  must  again  yield  the  palm  to 
Mr.  Disraeli.  The  latter,  never  losing  his  self- 
possession,  is  watchful  and  wary,  quick  to  see, 
bold  in  design,  and  brilliant  in  execution. 
His  action  in  the  matter  of  the  Regulation  of 
Public  Worship  Bill  would  of  itself  be  sufficient 
to  raise  him  to  supreme  rank  as  a  political 
commander.  This  Bill,  when  introduced  in  the 
House  of  Lords  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, seemed  from  the  standpoint  of  the  newly 
established  Premier  like  the  cloud  no  bigger 
than  a  man's  hand,  which  there  was  much 
reason  to  fear  might  presently  overspread  the 
political  sky  with  a  thunderous  canopy.  Hitherto 
all  had  gone  well  with  the  Government.  The 

58 


The  Official  Member 

minority  in  the  House  of  Commons  was  docile, 
and  the  majority  enthusiastic.  Nobody,  except 
the  Irish  members,  objected  to  anything.  The 
estimates  had  been  passed  with  almost  unparal- 
leled celerity  ;  promises  of  "  consideration  "  were 
accepted  as  thankfully  as  if  they  were  actual 
concessions  ;  Mr.  Ward  Hunt's  blundering  had 
been  condoned ;  on  the  whole  a  roseate  hue 
suffused  the  Treasury  Bench.  But  this  attempt 
to  regulate  public  worship  in  the  Church  of 
England  would  inevitably  spoil  everything. 
The  ominous  cries  of  "  Shibboleth  ! "  and 
"  Sibboleth ! "  would  resound  through  the 
whilom  peaceful  assembly,  and,  in  the  earnest 
and  conscientious  endeavour  to  settle  matters 
in  the  true  spirit  of  Christianity,  a  deplorable 
amount  of  hatred,  malice,  and  all  uncharitable - 
ness  would  be  engendered.  It  was  an  unfor- 
tunate affair ;  but  it  had  to  be  encountered. 
Mr.  Disraeli  met  it  at  the  outset  in  char- 
acteristic manner.  "  Can't  we  let  it  alone  ? " 
a  former  Prime  Minister  was  accustomed  to  say 
when  asked  what  should  be  done  in  a  disagree- 
able business.  For  many  weeks  Mr.  Disraeli 
let  the  Regulation  of  Public  Worship  Bill 
alone,  and  in  due  course  received  the  reward 
of  his  reticence. 

Mr.     Gladstone's     course     of     procedure     in 

59 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

respect  to  this  same  Bill  was  also  eminently 
characteristic,  and  a  consideration  of  it  is 
helpful  in  assisting  us  to  master  the  secret  of 
his  partial  failure  as  a  politician.  In  the 
early  part  of  the  Session  he  had  withdrawn 
from  the  House  of  Commons,  and  it  was 
generally  understood  that  he  had  no  intention 
of  returning,  purposing  to  take  a  twelve- 
months' rest.  This  understanding  having  been 
arrived  at  before  anything  was  heard  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury's  Bill,  no  possible 
charge  could  have  rested  against  Mr.  Gladstone 
had  he  remained  at  home  and  watched  the 
battle  from  afar.  Even  after  he  had  varied 
from  his  implied  intention  by  taking  a  promi- 
nent part  in  the  debate  on  the  Scotch  Church 
Patronage  Bill,  no  obligation  weighed  upon  him 
to  make  a  reappearance  on  the  second  reading 
of  the  measure  affecting  the  English  Church. 
One  Bill  involved  a  political  principle  in  the 
extension  of  which  he  had,  in  relation  to  the 
Irish  Church,  played  a  historic  part,  and  it  was 
natural  enough  that  he  should  watch  over  its 
further  development.  The  other  Bill  related  to 
a  'question  of  Church  procedure,  with  which  his 
name  was  not  connected,  save,  perhaps,  as  a 
suspect.  Political  considerations  made  it 
urgently  desirable  that  he  should  keep  out  of 

60 


The  Official  Member 

the  pending  contest.  Whatever  side  he  espoused 
he  was  certain  to  make  enemies,  and  the  side 
whither,  as  it  proved,  he  was  inclined  was  that 
against  which  were  arrayed  the  vast  majority 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  including  nearly  all 
his  own  following. 

Under  such  circumstances  Mr.  Disraeli  would 
have  stopped  at  home,  and  thanked  his  stars 
for  'the  fortunate  concatenation  of  circumstances 
that  had  placed  him  there  at  that  juncture.  Mr. 
Gladstone  did  exactly  the  reverse.  He  held 
strong  opinions  on  the  Regulation  of  Public 
Worship  Bill,  and  with  a  full  knowledge  of 
the  blow  he  was  striking  at  his  own  position, 
he  returned  once  more  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons and  laid  his  famous  six  resolutions  on 
the  table  amid  the  sad  silence  of  his  friends 
and  the  secret  exultation  of  his  adversaries.  It 
was  then  that  Mr.  Disraeli's  genius  as  a 
tactician  blazed  forth.  Up  to  this  moment  he 
had  hampered  himself  with  no  word  of  consent, 
dissent,  or  indifference  to  the  Bill.  He  had 
sat  silent  and  sphinx-like  on  the  Treasury  Bench 
whilst  all  the  House  was  in  a  ferment,  and 
whilst  Mr.  Gathorne  Hardy  had  risen  from  his 
side  to  denounce  the  Bill,  and  Lord  Sandon 
had  come  forward  to  support  it,  Sir  W.  Har- 
court,  on  the  front  Opposition  Bench,  meanwhile 

61 


Men  and  Manner  in   Parliament 

taking  upon  himself  to  arraign  Mr.  Gladstone's 
conduct.  But  when  the  ex-Premier  had  thus 
fatally  and  completely  caught  himself  in  the 
meshes  of  his  six  resolutions,  Mr.  Disraeli  saw 
his  own  career  open  out  broad  and  straight 
amid  the  devious  maze  into  which  the  House 
had  strayed. 

Suddenly  waking  up  from  his  immobile 
attitude,  the  Premier,  with  well -affected  emo- 
tion, declared  that  the  interests  at  stake  in 
the  Bill — which  a  fortnight  earlier,  when 
making  a  statement  touching  the  course  of 
business,  he  had  studiously  pointed  out  was  not 
a  Government  measure,  and  had  placed  in  order 
of  precedence  at  the  tail  of  a  list  of  a  dozen 
Bills — were  so  vast  that,  in  short,  everything  else 
must  give  way  till  the  issues  raised  were  settled. 
And  so  a  special  night  was  set  apart  for 
debate  upon  Mr.  Gladstone's  resolutions,  a 
debate  the  certain  result  of  which  would 
obviously  be  to  widen  still  further  the  breach 
that  stood  between  the  Leader  and  his  party, 
and,  perhaps,  to  leave  him  fatally  and  for  ever 
isolated.  Mr.  Gladstone  now  saw  his  error  and, 
with  what  hurt  to  his  proud  spirit  will  probably 
never  be  fully  known,  retired.  But  his  retreat 
was  a  forced  and  a  hurried  one,  and  though  it 
averted  final  disaster,  it  was  none  the  less  a 

62 


The  Official  Member 

personal  triumph  for  Mr.  Disraeli,  and  demon- 
strated anew  his  immense  superiority  over  his 
rival  in  the  arts  of  party  management. 

Of  all  Mr.  Disraeli's  lieutenants  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  Sir  Stafford  Northcote 
perhaps  stands  highest.  The  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer  is  a  Tory  of  the  school  of  Sir 
Robert  Peel,  of  whom  he  may,  by  a  process 
analogous  to  that  by  which  we  reach  "  the 
rope "  in  the  story  of  The  House  that  Jack 
Built,  be  also  considered  the  pupil.  He  was 
for  some  .years  the  private  secretary  of  Sir 
iRobert  Peel's  great  disciple,  Mr.  Gladstone, 
and  has,  as  his  speeches  frequently  show, 
profited  by  the  association.  In  forming  his 
Ministry  Mr.  Disraeli  seems  to  have  sought  for 
contrasts  to  the  personnel  of  the  late  Govern- 
ment even  to  the  points  of  beard  and  whisker. 
On  other  grounds  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  a 
more  complete  contrast  than  that  presented  by 
Sir  Stafford  and  his  two  immediate  predecessors 
in  the  office  of  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. 
Mr.  Gladstone  raised  the  exposition  of  the 
Budget  to  the  level  of  the  highest  oratorical 
displays  of  the  Session.  In  Mr.  Lowe's  time 
the  Budget  night  was  an  event  of  importance 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  interest  that  attached 
to  the  disclosure  of  the  Ministerial  financial  pro- 

63 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

gramme.  Sir  Stafford  Northcote  has  brought 
the  Budget  speech  down  to  little  more  than  a 
dry  business  statement  inflated  rather  than 
adorned  by  argument  and  illustration.  Whittier 
might  have  been  thinking  of  him  instead  of  the 
late  Mr.  Sumner  when  he  wrote, 

No  sense  of  humour  dropped  its  oil 
On  the  hard  ways  his  purpose  went ; 

Small  play  of  fancy  lightened  toil, 
He  spake  alone  the  thing  he  meant. 

It  must  be  added  that  the  right  hon.  gentle- 
man, whilst  generally  succeeding  in  making 
perfectly  clear  what  he  would  say,  is  somewhat 
prone  to  be  prosy.  He  "  hums  "  and  "  has," 
harks  back  to  matters  he  has  already  dis- 
cussed, makes  prolonged  diversions  into  by- 
paths, and,  putting  the  fact  moderately,  is  twice 
as  long  saying  what  he  has  at  heart  as  is  either 
necessary  or,  in  the  interest  of  his  argument, 
desirable.  In  introducing  his  first  Budget  he 
spoke  for  two  hours  and  forty  minutes,  which, 
it  may  be  urged,  was  not  an  extravagant 
demand  on  the  attention  of  the  House,  seeing 
that  when  Mr.  Gladstone,  twenty -one  years 
earlier,  brought  in  his  first  Budget  he  spoke 
for  five  hours.  But  it  is  well  known  that, 
generally  for  sufficient  reasons,  one  man  may 


The  Official  Member 

steal  a  horse  whilst  it  is  forbidden  to  another 
to  look  over  the  hedge.  A  harsh  dry  voice,  a 
countenance  expressionless,  perhaps  by  reason 
of  a  superabundance  of  hair,  an  unsympathetic 
manner,  and  an  almost  total  absence  of  the 
charm  of  imagination  or  fancy,  combine  to 
make  two  .hours  and  a  half  of  Sir  Stafford 
Northcote  worse  than  twenty-four  hours  of  Mr. 
Gladstone.  The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 
is,  however,  a  safe  business  man,  and  in  the 
temper  in  which  Parliament  met  was  a  welcome 
foil  to  the  brilliancy  of  his  predecessors. 

In  the  case  of  his  immediate  forerunner  this 
brilliancy  was,  it  must  be  admitted,  a  matter  of 
faith  rather  than  of  sight.  The  reputation 
made  by  Mr.  Lowe  whilst  he  was  a  dweller  in 
the  Cave  of  Adullam  pitched  high  expecta- 
tion of  the  House  whenever,  in  the  early  days 
of  his  occupancy,  he  rose  from  the  Treasury 
Bench.  I  cannot  at  the  moment  call  to 
mind  any  occasion  when  this  expectation  was 
fully  satisfied.  By  far  the  best  speech  he 
has  delivered  of  late  years  was  that  in  which, 
addressing  the  electors  of  London  University 
upon  the  dissolution  of  Parliament,  he  attacked 
his  ancient  foeman  Mr.  Disraeli.  This  was 
done  in  his  best  old  manner,  a  manner  which 
he  had  apparently  found  unsuited  for  a  Cabinet 

65  E 


Men  and  Manner   in  Parliament 

Minister  speaking  in  Parliament,  and  had  con- 
sequently temporarily  abandoned.  Good  or 
indifferent,  Mr.  Lowe's  speeches  are  of  the  class 
of  oratory  which  is  better  when  reported  than 
when  listened  to.  His  voice  is  not  attractive, 
and  suffers  sorely  in  the  delivery.  Possibly 
the  outside  public  will  find  a  difficulty  in 
believing  it,  but  it  is  nevertheless  true  that 
Mr.  Lowe  is  a  bashful  speaker.  When  he 
comes  to  a  point  in  his  speech  he  seems  half 
afraid  that  it  will  not  succeed,  and  goes  some 
way  towards  realizing  his  fears  by  hanging 
down  his  head  and  nervously  jerking  out  the 
concluding  portion  of  the  sentence,  wherein 
the  sting  generally  lies,  in  a  low,  broken  tone 
that  frequently  fails  to  reach  one -half  his 
hearers.  He  is,  furthermore,  afflicted  with 
near-sightedness,  and  on  Budget  nights,  when 
recurrence  to  documents  was  of  momentary 
necessity,  the  spectacle  of  the  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer  holding  within  an  inch  of  his  eye- 
brows a  piece  of  paper — generally  the  wrong 
piece  at  first — hurriedly  glancing  over  it,  quot- 
ing figures,  and  immediately  correcting  his 
quotations,  was  not  calculated  to  engender  either 
confidence  or  pleasure.  • 

Mr.  Lowe's  manner  of  answering  questions  was 
wont  much  to  amuse  the  House  before  repetition 

66 


ROBERT  LOWE. 
(I8II-I892.) 

From  a  photograph  supplied  by  Mr.  Augustin  Rischgitz. 


[To  face  p.  66. 


The  Official  Member 

palled  upon  the  appetite.  If  the  question  might 
be  answered  by  the  monosyllable  "  yes  "  or  "  no/' 
"  yes  "  or  "  no  "  was  the  full  extent  of  his  answer. 
Essentially  a  combative  man,  he  threw  a  chal- 
lenge into  a  reply  relating  to  the  tax  on  agricul- 
tural horses,  and  implied  his  scorn  of  mankind 
generally  in  a  statement  touching  the  legacy 
duty.  Like  the  "  noble  peasant "  sung  by  Crabbe, 

Of  no  man's  presence  Isaac  felt  afraid, 

At  no  man's  questions  Isaac  looked  dismayed. 

.Unfortunately  we  cannot  continue  the  quotation, 
and  add  to  the  description  of  Mr.  Lowe, 

Yet  while  the  serious  thought  his  soul  approved, 
Cheerful  he  seemed  and  gentleness  he  loved  ; 
To  bliss  domestic  he  his  heart  resigned, 
And  with  the  firmest  had  the  fondest  mind. 

One  thing  should  be  added  to  his  credit. 
He  had  a  wholesome  contempt  for  purposeless 
talk,  and  once  horrified  a  number  of  estimable 
gentlemen  who  had  occupied  a  whole  night  in 
a  discussion  on  a  forthcoming  Budget  by  curtly 
promising  to  consider  their  "  interesting  conver- 
sation," and  so  resuming  his  seat.  They 
thought  they  had  been  "  debating,"  and  have 
probably  never  forgiven  the  scornful  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer  for  reminding  them  that  they 
were  only  conversing. 


Men   and   Manner  in  Parliament 

That  Mr.  Cross  should  have  been  invited  to 
take  office  in  the  new  Conservative  Ministry 
was  not  a  matter  of  great  surprise  ;  the  marvel 
of  it  was  that  at  a  single  bound  the  junior 
member  for  South-west  Lancashire  should  rise 
from  the  position  of  a  private  member  to  the 
post  of  Home  Secretary  and  the  rank  of 
Privy  Councillor.  Upon  reflection  we  perceive 
that  since  his  reappearance  in  the  House  in 
1868  Mr.  Cross  has  displayed  several  of  those 
qualities  which  are  required  in  a  Home 
Secretary.  We  honour  the  fairness  of  Mr. 
Disraeli's  choice,  and  the  boldness  with  which 
he  passed  by  more  distinguished  candidates  for 
office  and  opened  the  path  of  promotion  to  the 
foot  of  talent.  It  is  true  that  Mr.  Cross  has 
not  given  unqualified  satisfaction  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his  duties ;  it  is  also  true  that 
there  never  was  a  Home  Secretary  who  did. 
Whilst  yet  a  private  member,  he  was 
notable  for  an  assiduous  attention  to  business, 
a  mastery  of  detail,  a  shrewd  insight  into 
affairs,  a  capacity  to  take  common-sense  views 
of  things,  and  an  ability  to  express  himself  in 
plain,  intelligent  speech.  These  are  some  of 
the  things  that  are  needful  for  a  Home  Secre- 
tary, and  as  Home  Secretaries  go,  Mr.  Cross 
has  fairly  justified  Mr.  Disraeli's  choice.  Un- 

68 


The  Official  Member 

doubtedly  he  failed  in  his  management  in  Com- 
mittee of  the  Licensing  Act  Amendment  Bill. 
There  was  an  epoch  when  he  quite  lost  his  head, 
offering  one  thing  in  the  evening,  modifying  it 
at  midnight,  and  withdrawing  it  altogether  on 
the  following  morning.  It  is  only  fair  to 
remember  that  the  measure  under  his  charge 
was  the  Licensing  Bill,  with  which,  it  has  by 
common  consent  been  agreed,  no  human  being 
can  deal  satisfactorily. 

Mr.  Cross's  speaking  has  not  improved  in 
point  of  style  since  he  found  a  seat  on 
the  Treasury  Bench.  A  tendency  to  pro- 
lixity has  developed  itself  in  an  alarming 
manner,  the  right  hon.  gentleman  evidently 
thinking  that  it  is  incumbent  upon  a  Home 
Secretary  to  expand  into  a  speech  what 
a  private  member  might  have  said  in  a 
sentence.  In  a  Ministry  happily  remarkable 
for  brevity  of  speech  at  "  question  time,"  the 
Home  Secretary  is  notorious  for  the  wordiness 
of  his  replies.  This  is  possibly  owing  to  the 
temporary  existence  of  the  intense  delight  which 
a  good  plain  man  experiences  in  finding  himself 
suddenly  and  unexpectedly  in  the  position  of 
Her  Majesty's  Chief  Secretary  of  State  for 
the  Home  Department.  He  lingers  round 
the  discharge  of  his  Parliamentary  duties  of 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

speech  like  a  child  dallies  with  a  last  sugar- 
plum. He  is  as  absorbingly  proud  of  his  office 
as  a  little  boy  newly  breeched  is  of  his  unac- 
customed garment.  So  far  carried  away  by  the 
feeling  is  he  that,  finding  himself  in  the  Isle 
of  Man  during  the  recess  of  1 8  7  4,  he  called  in 
at  the  House  of  Keys,  and  not  only  showed  the 
members  the  new  Home  Secretary,  but  made 
a  speech  to  them  in  character.  This  is,  however, 
a  pardonable  enthusiasm  that  will  wear  off  in 
time,  leaving  us  for  Home  Secretary  a  sensible, 
amiable,  shrewd  man  of  business,  but  neither  intel- 
lectually strong  nor  a  great  administrator. 

Mr.  Cross's  lieutenant,  Sir  H.  Selwin- 
Ibbetson,  who  used  to  be  a  fearful  bore  when 
he  was  a  private  member,  is,  temporarily  only 
it  is  to  be  feared,  tamed  by  the  chains  of  office. 
He  always  seems  glad  to  find  himself  once 
more  safe  on  the  Treasury  Bench  without 
having  perilled  the  British  Constitution  by 
inadvertent  or  indiscreet  observations.  Sir 
Michael  Hicks-Beach  also  displays  this  whole- 
some timidity,  his  manner  being  in  marked 
contrast  to  that  of  the  noble  lord  whom  he 
succeeds.  The  Marquis  of  Hartington  had  none 
of  the  supercilious  manner  of  Mr.  Ayrton,  but, 
equally  with  a  colleague  in  whose  companion- 
ship he  must  have  joyed,  his  lordship  possessed 

70 


The  Official  Member 

the  art  of  making  his  audience  thoroughly 
understand  that,  what  with  their  questions, 
their  objections,  and  their  suggestions,  they  were 
decidedly  obnoxious  and  altogether  unnecessary 
people,  and  that  if  they  would  just  leave  the 
affairs  of  the  department  in  the  hands  of  him 
who,  however  unwillingly,  addressed  them,  it 
would  be  a  great  deal  better  for  the  country. 
For  the  heir  to  a  dukedom  and  revenues  un- 
told, the  Marquis  of  Hartington  was  a  most 
exemplary  member  of  Parliament,  being  con- 
stantly in  his  place  in  the  House,  and  invariably 
at  hand  when  the  division  bell  rang,  just  as 
if  he  were  a  Taper  or  a  Tadpole,  or  even  a 
Right  Hon.  Nicholas  Rigby.  But  he  never 
spoke  unless  he  were  absolutely  obliged,  and 
then  said  as  little  as  possible.  There  was  a 
surliness  about  his  manner  that  did  not  make 
him  an  attractive  speaker ;  but  then,  as  I  have 
said,  he  is  the  eldest  son  of  a  duke,  and  on  the 
whole  was  acceptable  to  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  even  partially  awed  the  Irish  members. 
Sir  Michael  Hicks-Beach  appears  to  have 
entered  upon  his  office  with  the  determination 
to  be,  at  least,  less  overbearing  in  manner  than 
his  noble  predecessor,  and  in  succeeding  he 
has  vindicated  the  power  of  politeness  and  con- 
sideration for  the  feelings  of  others.  Owing  to 

71 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

the  exceptional  force  of  the  Irish  contingent, 
and  the  obligation  thereby  felt  to  be  imposed 
upon  them  to  occupy  an  increasingly  large  share 
of  the  time  of  the  British  Parliament,  the  Irish 
Secretary's  part  was,  in  the  Session  of  1874, 
beset  with  unusual  petty  difficulties.  Sir 
Michael  Hicks -Beach  met  them  with  unvarying 
good  temper,  and  a  display  of  judgment  and 
tact  for  which  his  previous  Parliamentary  career 
had  scarcely  prepared  the  House. 

The  Hon.  Robert  Bourke,  Under-Secretary  of 
State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  has  not  as  yet  had 
an  opportunity  of  proving  his  possession  of 
those  administrative  abilities  which  the  House 
is  well  inclined  to  credit  him  with.  He 
succeeds  a  painstaking  and  efficient  man,  who 
was  a  good  deal  before  the  House  in  the  course 
of  a  Session.  A  rapid,  glib  speaker,  Lord 
Enfield  always  showed  himself  well  posted  up 
in  the  details  of  his  office,  and  had  a  con- 
ciliatory way  of  addressing  the  House  quite 
refreshing  after  experience  of  the  manner 
of  the  great  majority  of  his  colleagues.  Mr. 
C.  S.  Read  never  made  any  pretensions  to 
oratory,  and  never  had  them  put  forth  on  his 
account.  A  plain,  straightforward,  practical 
speaker,  whom  men  listen  to  for  what  he  has 
to  say,  not  for  his  manner  of  saying  it.  In 

72 


The  Official   Member 

this  respect  he  is  the  counterpart  of  Sir  Massey 
Lopes,  though,  on  the  whole,  perhaps,  of  a 
higher  mental  calibre,  and  certainly  capable  of 
taking  wider  views  than  the  champion  of  the 
Local  Taxation  Relief  agitators,  who  has  been 
made  a  Junior  Lord  of  the  Admiralty.  Mr. 
W.  H.  Smith  is  an  able  and  indefatigable 
Financial  Secretary  to  the  Treasury.  He  is, 
moreover,  a  plain,  clear,  sensible,  judicious 
speaker,  who  always  seems  to  see  the  right 
thing  at  the  right  moment,  and  makes  known 
his  discovery  in  a  modest  manner  which  the 
House  relishes  as  a  rare  luxury. 

His  immediate  colleague  in  office,  Mr.  Hart 
Dyke,  is  a  young  man  to  be  chief  whip  to  the 
Government,  and  whilst  yet  he  was  lieutenant 
to  Colonel  Taylor  had  some  juvenile  ways 
which  time  will  possibly  mend.  It  was  curiously 
provoking  to  have  him  appearing  several  times  in 
the  course  of  a  sitting,  to  see  him  stand  in  the 
centre  of  the  line  that  marks  the  bar  of  the 
House,  and  with  his  hands  in  his  pockets  slowly 
survey  the  assembly  as  if  it  were  a  marionette 
show  and  he  the  registered  proprietor.  In  the 
Session  of  1873  ne  persistently  wore  brown 
gaitered  boots,  and  on  a  night  when  a  great 
division  was  pending,  the  sight  of  those  little 
brown  gaiters  twinkling  about  the  bar  became 

73 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

to  the  highly  strung  nerves  positively  insupport- 
able. Mr.  Glyn  managed  to  get  through  his 
really  important  business  with  far  less  bustle. 
He  was  always  about  the  House,  bright, 
cheerful,  good-tempered,  and  ready.  When  a 
hard  fate  made  him  a  peer  both  sides  of  the 
House  felt  that  the  place  seemed  scarcely  what 
it  used  to  be,  and  all  regretted  that  they  should 
never  more  hear  his  rapid  stuttering  cry  "  Ayes 
to  the  right,  f-f-four  hundredandone .  Noes  to 
the  left,  f-f -fifty-three  !  "  Among  his  many 
qualifications  as  a  successful  whip,  Mr.  Glyn 
possessed  a  rare  and  indescribable  power  of 
throwing  into  the  tone  of  his  announcements  of 
divisions  a  delicate  yet  unmistakable  intimation 
of  the  hopelessness  of  opposing  the  Ministry. 
An  altogether  different  personage  from  his 
dapper  junior  and  from  his  sprightly  opponent 
is  Colonel  Taylor,  chief  whip  on  the  Conser- 
vative side  whilst  his  party  was  in  Opposition, 
now  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster. 
A  big,  loosely-jointed  man,  whose  careless  attire 
was  ever  a  silent  reproach  to  the  coxcombry 
of  Mr.  Hart  Dyke.  No  one  unacquainted  with 
the  fact  would  have  divined  that  the  heavy-look- 
ing man  who  occasionally  strode  across  the 
floor  of  the  House  a  few  minutes  before  a 
division  was  called  held  in  his  hands  all  the 

74 


The  Official  Member 

strings  which,  pulled,  recorded  the  votes  of  a 
great  party.  He  did,  and  so  held  them  that 
on  more  than  one  occasion  he  surprised  the 
House  and  fluttered  Mr.  Glyn  by  running  an 
actually  strong  Government  so  close  that  the 
Ministerial  victory  was  rather  a  mortification 
than  a  triumph. 

Mr.  Sclater-Booth  has  been  in  office  before, 
and  is  a  painstaking,  useful  man,  but  not  of 
the  sort  to  fill  the  House  at  the  dinner  hour. 
Sir  Charles  Adderley  has  a  great  reputation  as 
an  authority  on  Colonial  affairs,  for  which 
reason,  perhaps,  Mr.  Disraeli  did  not  make  him 
Colonial  Secretary.  Mr.  Bright  has  written  of 
the  right  hon.  baronet  "He  is  a  dull  man." 
I  do  not  think  the  accuracy  of  the  de- 
scription would  be  increased  by  amplification. 
Lord  Henry  Lennox  became,  after  the  death 
of  Mr.  Henry  Corry,  a  former  First  Lord, 
the  Opposition  Naval  critic,  and  so  has 
been  made  Chief  Commissioner  of  Works, 
in  which  capacity  he  will  have  nothing  to  do 
with  ships.  There  was  a  promising  truculence 
in  the  manner  in  which  Lord  Henry  was  wont 
to  throw  up  his  feet  against  the  table  and, 
whilst  the  Navy  Estimates  were  being  moved, 
gaze  complacently  upon  a  pair  of  legs  which 
only  in  a  frenzy  of  self-delusion  could  be 

75 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

regarded  as  handsome.  Nothing  ever  came 
of  his  speeches,  and  what  he  fought  Mr.  Goschen 
for  the  few  members  who  remained  to  hear  him 
never  could  make  out. 

Mr.  E.  S.  Gordon,  the  Lord  Advocate  of 
Scotland,  was  very  little  known  in  the  House 
at  the  time  he  took  his  seat  on  the  Treasury 
Bench,  but  he  was  assured  in  advance  of  a 
favourable  reception,  if  it  were  only  for  the  fact 
that  his  acceptance  of  office  was  incompatible 
with  the  further  appearance  of  Mr.  Young. 
"  So  glad  to  hear  a  good  account  of  your 
health  and  appearance  from  our  Lord  Advo- 
cate," wrote  Mr.  Gladstone  to  Dean  Ramsay 
in  a  correspondence  lately  published.  "  A  clever 
chiel,  is  he  not?"  Mr.  Young  was  decidedly 
of  the  affirmative  opinion,  and  made  the  most 
of  the  opportunities  afforded  by  his  position  in 
the  House  to  gain  converts.  Happily  these 
opportunities  were  rare  ;  and  as  Scotch  business 
generally  comes  on  about  one  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  when  only  a  score  or  so  of  members 
remain,  the  amount  of  human  suffering  endured 
consequent  on  Mr.  Young's  availing  himself  of 
them  was  much  less  than,  under  other 
circumstances,  it  might  have  been.  But 
though  not  a  favourite  speaker,  he  doubt- 
less did  valuable  service  to  the  Ministry,  for 


The  Official  Member 

the  instinct  of  self-preservation  is  very  strong, 
and  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  many  points 
men  will  not  give  up  if  the  relinquishment  of 
opposition  guarantees  the  reduction  by  half  an 
hour's  length  of  a  speech  from  the  ex -Lord 
Advocate.  Mr.  Gordon  turns  out  to  be  a 
feebler  man  than  Mr.  Young,  but  he  has, 
happily,  clearer  perceptions  of  his  natural 
inability  to  weave  around  an  audience  the 
charm  of  eloquence.  There  was  a  certain  cold- 
bloodedness about  the  manner  in  which  Mr. 
Young  was  accustomed,  after  midnight,  slowly 
to  approach  the  table,  deposit  thereon  a  for- 
bidding array  of  notes  and  papers,  and 
deliberately  commence  a  dreary  harangue,  as 
long  as  if  the  scanty  audience  were  full  of 
appreciative  Saddletrees  and  he  were  the 
redoubtable  Mr.  Crossmyloof.  Mr.  Gordon  is 
much  more  diffident,  and  after  weakly  and 
incomprehensibly  floundering  about  in  a  case, 
presently  withdraws,  and  the  matter  is  settled 
by  sheer  voting  power. 

Joe  Atlee,  chatting  with  Lord  Kilgobbin's 
son  Dick  about  "  the  mighty  intelligences  that 
direct  us,"  observes,  "  It  is  no  exaggeration  to 
say  if  you  were  to  be  in  the  Home  Office 
and  I  at  the  Foreign  Office  without  our  names 
being  divulged,  there  is  not  a  man  or  woman  in 

77 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

England    would    be    the    wiser   or    the    worse ; 
though  if  either  of  us  were   to  take  charge  of 
the  engine  on  the  Holyhead  line  there  would  be  a 
smash  or  an  explosion  before  we  reached  Rugby." 
Charles     Lever     knew     what    he     was     writing 
about,  and  that  he  has  not  been  led  away  from 
the  truth  by  the  lure  of  an  epigram  will  appear 
if  we  reflect  for  a  moment   that   Mr.  Gathorne 
Hardy  has  succeeded  Mr.  Cardwell  at  the  War 
Office,  Mr.  Ward  Hunt  supersedes  Mr.  Goschen 
at  the  Admiralty,  Lord  John  Manners  occupies 
Mr.   Monsell's  desk  at  the  Post  Office,  and,  as 
happened  after  that  fearful  bout  of   cursing  on 
the   part   of   the   Cardinal   Lord    Archbishop    of 
Rheims,    nobody   seems   one   bit  the    worse — or 
the    better    either,     for    the    matter    of     that. 
Between   the   present  and  the  past    Postmaster- 
General    there    is,    indeed,    little   to    choose,    for 
there  exist  no  striking  differences,   except,  per- 
haps,   that   whilst   Lord   John   Manners    can,    if 
asked    why   he    should    be   Postmaster-General, 
state    that   his    father    is   a    duke    and    that    his 
enjoyment  of  the  Premier's  personal  friendship 
dates  back  over  thirty  years,  Mr.    Monsell,  not 
possessing    these    advantages,    would,    had    the 
question  been  addressed  to  him  during  his  term 
of  office,    have    been  utterly  nonplussed.      The 
great   gulfs    which    are   by   personal    character- 

78 


The  Official  Member 

istics  fixed  between  Mr.  Hardy  and  Mr.  Hunt 
on  the  one  hand,  and  Mr.  Cardwell  and  Mr. 
Goschen  on  the  other,  are  so  wide  that  but  for 
the  existence  of  the  principle  which  Mr.  Joe 
Atlee  illustrates,  the  War  Office  and  the 
Admiralty  would  ere  now  be  turned  upside  down. 
In  the  matter  of  oratorical  ability  it  is 
difficult  to  say  whether  the  House  has  lost  or 
gained  by  the  change.  Mr.  Cardwell  was  a 
hard,  dry  speaker,  and  had  a  melancholy,  woe- 
begone manner  with  him,  which,  till  the  House 
grew  accustomed  to  it  in  connection  with  state- 
ments relating  to  the  business  of  the  War  Office, 
suggested  that  some  great  calamity  had  sud- 
denly befallen  the  British  Army,  and  that  when 
Mr.  Cardwell's  spirits  had  slightly  recovered 
from  the  shock,  details  of  the  calamity  should 
be  forthcoming  from  his  lips.  But,  withal,  his 
statements  would,  if  mankind  could  only  bring 
themselves  to  pay  attention  to  their  lengthened 
utterance,  be  found  to  be  luminous.  They 
invariably  disclosed  a  comprehensive  grasp  of 
the  subject  and  the  appliance  to  dealings  with 
it  of  sound  common  sense,  unbiased  judgment, 
and  great  business  capacity.  Mr.  Cardwell 
never  aspired  to  eloquence.  He  just  delivered 
himself  of  the  business  he  had  at  heart,  and 
was  concerned  rather  that  it  should  prosper 

79 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

than  that  he  should  shine.  Mr.  Gathorne 
Hardy,  deceived  by  the  cheers  of  the  country 
party  that  never  fail  to  echo  his  utterances,  is 
under  the  delusion  that  he  is  an  eloquent  man. 
There  never  was  a  more  complete  mistake.  He 
has  a  great  flow  of  words,  and  can  pour  them 
forth  in  intelligible  sequence  by  the  hour. 
But  wordiness  is  not  oratory— is  even  fatal  to 
oratory — and  Mr.  Gathorne  Hardy  is  excessively 
wordy.  He  has  a  good  voice  for  a  short 
speech,  but  in  the  absence  of  modulation  it 
becomes  wearisome  at  the  end  of  the  first  half 
hour.  He  starts  off  at  a  gallop,  and  never 
draws  rein  till  he  is  about  to  sit  down,  which 
he  often  does  in  a  husky  and  breathless  con- 
dition. He  has  some  debating  power,  and  uses 
it  with  the  trained  ability  of  a  barrister.  But 
for  those  who  are  not  moved  save  by  some 
flight  of  fancy,  some  arrow  of  wit,  some 
lambent  flame  of  passionate  eloquence,  his 
voice  in  debate  is  even  as  sounding  brass  or  a 
tinkling  cymbal. 

Mr.  Goschen  is  a  speaker  of  the  Cardwell 
school,  though  here  the  mournful  manner  is 
changed  for  a  somewhat  timid,  anxious,  half 
apologetical  air.  He  has  a  curious  trick  when 
addressing  the  House  of  holding  himself  by 
the  lappets  of  the  coat,  as  if  otherwise  he 

80 


The  Official  Member 

might  run  away  and  leave  matters  to  explain 
themselves.  Sometimes  he  changes  the  action 
and,  apparently  having  the  same  object  in 
view,  firmly  holds  himself  down  by  the  hips. 
When  not  thus  engaged  he  is  nervously  sorting 
the  papers  before  him,  or  clawing  at  the  air 
with  the  forefinger  of  his  right  hand.  He  has 
a  peculiar  voice,  which  does  not  gain  additional 
charm  from  the  prevalence  of  a  tone  suggestive 
of  a  perpetual  cold  in  the  head.  Like  Mr. 
Cardwell,  his  speeches  read  better  than  they 
sound,  for  he,  too,  has  great  business  capacity, 
and  possesses  the  power  of  marshalling  intricate 
facts  and  figures  in  a  manner  that  makes  dark 
places  clear. 

Mr.  Ward  Hunt  is  remarkable  as  combining 
in  his  person  two  characteristics  which  rarely 
go  together.  He  is  a  very  big  man  and  yet 
he  is  a  scold.  When  in  times  past  he  rose  to 
speak  from  the  front  Opposition  Bench  he 
invariably  put  his  right  hand,  knuckles  down- 
ward, on  the  corner  of  the  clerk's  desk,  and, 
standing  chiefly  on  one  leg,  with  his  left  arm 
akimbo,  began  to  scold.  Under  a  Conservative 
Government  it  comes  to  pass  that  the  corner 
of  the  clerk's  desk  is  on  his  left  hand,  and 
during  the  first  few  weeks  of  the  Session 
tl^e  right  hon.  gentleman,  whose  ideas  do  not 

81  F 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

flow  very  rapidly,  and  who  is  consequently  not 
quick   at   mastering   a  new  situation,    was   curi- 
ously   belated    when    he    rose    to    speak.      The 
circumstance    did  not    affect    the    tenor    of    his 
speech,  which  retained  in  full  measure  its  former 
prevailing  characteristic  of  "  nagging."     A  cast 
of  mind  that  permitted  him  when  in  Opposition 
to    become    the    exponent   of   back -stair    gossip, 
and    seriously    to    propound    to    the    House    of 
Commons  the  question  "  whether  it  is  true  that 
the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  and  the  First 
Commissioner   of    Works    are   not   on    speaking 
terms,"     did     not     promise    much     for     future 
manifestations    of    dignity.       The    prospect    has 
not    brightened    since    he    crossed    over     from 
the     shady     side     of    the     House.       His     first 
official     speech    administered     a    blow    to     the 
Government    which    would    have    destroyed    a 
weaker    one.       That,     advanced    to    the     First 
Lordship    of     the    Admiralty,    he    should     im- 
mediately  have    commenced    to   scold   his    pre- 
decessors   and    bluster    about    "  dummy   ships  " 
and    "  paper    fleets,"    was    precisely  what    those 
familiar  with  his  character  might  have  expected. 
The     country     at     large,     not     knowing     what 
manner  of  man  he  was,  was  really  alarmed  at 
the   prospect   of   a   new  plan    of    "  Conservative 
reaction "    in     the    form    of    greatly     increased 

82 


The  Official  Member 

expenditure  on  the  Navy,  and  a  storm  arose 
before  which  the  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty 
was  obliged  to  bow,  and  confess  that  he  "  really 
did  not  mean  anything." 

Once  only  since  the  Navy  Estimates  were 
disposed  of  has  the  right  hon.  gentleman 
opened  his  mouth  in  debate,  and  once 
again  he  got  his  colleagues  into  trouble. 
The  House  was  in  Committee  on  the 
Licensing  Act,  and  in  the  temporary  absence 
of  Mr.  Cross,  Mr.  Ward  Hunt  rose  and  in  reply 
to  some  remarks  by  an  hon.  baronet  opposite, 
assured  the  Committee  that  the  Government 
were  in  favour  of  reopening  public-houses  at 
six  o'clock  on  Sunday  evenings.  As  the  Home 
Secretary  had  half  an  hour  earlier  declared  for 
"  seven  "  as  the  reopening  hour,  the  Committee 
were  thrown  into  a  state  of  consternation  from 
which  they  were  delivered  only  by  Mr.  Cross's 
coolly  throwing  his  colleague  over.  This  inci- 
dent apparently  closed  the  First  Lord's  career 
as  an  occasional  mouthpiece  of  the  Ministry, 
and  his  voice  has  not  since  been  heard  in  the 
House  of  Commons  save  on  rare  occasions  when 
a  question  has  been  put  to  him  relating  to  the 
service  of  which  he  is  the  intelligent  head. 
He  has,  however,  abated  not  one  jot  of  his 
attendance  upon  the  Treasury  Bench,  where  he 

83 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

has  developed  an  ability  for  instantly  falling 
asleep  which,  if  observed  by  Mr.  Pickwick's 
servitor  the  Fat  Boy,  would  disturb  his  dreams 
with  envy.  During  the  long  summer  nights  of 
the  Session  of  1874  there  were  few  pictures 
more  familiar  in  the  House  of  Commons  than 
that  presented  by  the  First  Lord  of  the 
Admiralty,  his  left  arm  stretched  along  the 
back  of  the  Treasury  Bench,  his  head  grace- 
fully inclining  towards  his  left  shoulder,  and 
the  great  expanse  of  white  waistcoat  gently 
rising  and  falling  to  the  cadence  of  repose. 
The  destinies  of  the  Church  might  tremble  in 
the  balance ;  national  education  might  be 
wrestling  for  existence ;  Ireland  might  have 
found  one  new  grievance  ;  states  might  revolt 
and  kingdoms  be  convulsed  ;  the  mighty  North- 
ampton squire  slept  on  like  a  modern  Bottom 
bewitched  anew  by  Oberon. 

Lord  Sandon,  who  succeeds  Mr.  Forster  in 
the  Vice -Presidentship  of  the  Council,  was, 
during  the  Session  of  1874,  forced  into  a 
prominent  position  in  which — setting  aside  his 
fatally  injudicious  speech  on  moving  the  second 
reading  of  the  Endowed  Schools  Act  Amend- 
ment Bill,  for  we  do  not  know  that  he  was 
not  speaking  according  to  his  brief — he  has 
acquitted  himself  well.  Without  pretension  to 


The  Official  Member 

oratory,  he  is  a  clear  speaker,  is  conciliatory  in 
his  manner,  and  is  naturally  gifted  with  an 
earnestness  of  mien  that  stands  him  in  good 
stead  when  pressing  an  argument. 

Mr.  W.  E.  Forster  is,  as  far  as  personal  appear- 
ance goes,  one  of  the  notabilities  of  the  House. 
•He  carefully  cultivates  ruggedness,  and  the  soil 
being  kindly,  the  result  must  be  held  to  .  be 
highly  satisfactory.  Mr.  Disraeli,  like  the 
nymph  in  the  Rape  of  the  Lock, 

to  the  destruction  of  mankind 
Nourishes  two  locks, 

which  are  oiled  and  carefully  disposed  in  curls 
over  his  forehead.  Possibly  for  the  fuller 
accentuation  of  his  opposition  to  the  Conservative 
Chief,  Mr.  Forster  does  not  nourish  his  hair  at 
all,  but  lets  it  grow  wild  and  arrange  itself  at 
its  own  will.  His  dress  and  manner  are  in 
keeping  with  his  unkempt  hair,  and  as  he 
walks  up  the  floor  of  the  House  with  a  rugged 
bunch  of  hair  tumbling  over  his  forehead,  and 
one  hand  in  the  capacious  side  pocket  of  his 
squarely  cut,  loosely  made  coat,  he  looks  as  if  he 
had  been  suddenly  called  up  out  of  bed,  and  in 
his  haste  had  got  into  somebody  else's  clothes. 
When  he  does  not  attempt  to  be  humorous  or 
sarcastic  he  is  an  effective  speaker ;  but  the 

85 


Men  and    Manner  in  Parliament 

effect  is  not  heightened  by  his  manner.  He  has 
at  best  a  harsh  voice,  which  when  he  grows 
emphatic,  as  he  is  apt  to  do,  grates  painfully 
on  the  ear,  and  certain  little  mannerisms — 
such  as  purposelessly  assorting  and  reasserting 
pieces  of  paper,  moving  about  in  a  restless 
and  irritating  manner,  and,  above  all,  cease- 
lessly chuckling  through  whole  sentences  when 
making  personal  references  to  "  my  honourable  " 
or  "  my  right  honourable  friend  opposite " 
place  him  far  away  from  the  school  of  speakers 
to  whom  it  is  a  pleasure  to  listen. 

The  appointment  of  Mr.  James  Lowther  to  an 
Under  Secretaryship  in  the  Colonial  Office,  the 
naming  of  Mr.  Cavendish  Bentinck  as  Parlia- 
mentary Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  and 
the  making  of  Sir  James  Elphinstone  a  Junior 
Lord  of  the  Treasury,  are  three  jokes  which 
Mr.  Disraeli  has  permitted  to  himself  as  temper- 
ing the  gravity  of  official  cares.  I  am  not, 
however,  quite  sure  that  the  pitchforking  into 
office  of  Mr.  Lowther  has  not,  at  bottom, 
other  reasons  than  that  suggested  on  the  face 
of  it.  Mr.  Disraeli  specially  prides  himself, 
and  with  reason,  upon  his  judgment  of  men, 
and  is  peculiarly  prone  to  stretch  forth  his 
hand,  take  out  of  a  crowd  an  unrecognized 
individual,  and  promote  him  to  high  office. 

86 


S3  £ 

<  y 

H  s 

B  I 


The  Official  Member 

It  may  be  that  he  has  seen  in  Mr.  Lowther 
latent  qualities  which,  with  opportunity,  may 
blossom  into  Ministerial  greatness.  Up  to  the 
end  of  the  Session  of  1873  the  House  had  seen 
those  qualities  exercised  only  in  the  direction  of 
interfering  with  the  progress  of  Mr.  Gladstone's 
plans  for  the  disposition  of  business,  and  herein 
they  were  generally  triumphant.  Mr.  Lowther's 
favourite  hour  for  "  catching  the  eye  of  the 
Speaker "  was  towards  midnight,  and  after  a 
Minister  had  for  an  hour  or  so  been  sedulously 
pouring  oil  on  the  troubled  waters  of  a  debate 
he  had  a  wicked  way  of  dropping  a  lighted 
match  by  way  of  complement. 

As  one  of  the  players  in  the  battledore-and- 
shuttlecock  game  of  moving  alternately  that  "  the 
House  do  now  adjourn,"  and  that  "  the  debate 
be  now  adjourned,"  he  had  no  rival.  Arriving 
fresh  from  the  delights  of  dinner  or  the  com- 
forts of  the  club,  it  was  a  new  joy  to  bait 
wearied  Ministers,  and  at  the  same  time  feel 
that  you  were  shielding  the  British  Constitution 
from  the  fresh  assaults  of  a  reckless  Minister. 
This  was  the  work  Mr.  Lowther  seemed  to 
have  appointed  for  his  doing,  and  he  did  it 
well,  there  being  in  his  manner  a  grave  mock- 
ing earnestness  that  would  have  been  enjoyable 
at  an  earlier  and  fresher  hour  of  the  night. 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

All  this  is  changed  now,  and  the  Treasury 
Bench  finds  room  for  no  more  sedate,  attentive, 
respectful,  respectable,  and  responsible  per- 
sonage than  Her  Majesty's  Under  Secretary  of 
State  for  the  Colonies.  Like  Prince  Henry 
when  called  to  the  throne  by  the  death  of  his 
father,  Mr.  Lowther  has  "  turned  away  his 
former  self,"  and  it  requires  no  great  effort 
of  imagination  to  conjure  up  the  probable 
scene  in  which  he  bade  farewell  to  his  old 
companions.  The  "  Lord  Chief  Justice  "  is  to 
be  envied  the  opportunity  of  hearing  Mr. 
Lowther  say, 

The  tide  of  blood  in  me 
Hath  proudly  flowed  in  vanity,  till  now. 
Now  doth  it  turn  and  ebb  back  to  the  sea, 
Where  it  shall  mingle  with  the  state  of  floods 
And  henceforth  in  formal  majesty. 

No  such  suspicion  of  coming  greatness  hangs 
about  Sir  James  Elphinstone  or  Mr.  Cavendish 
Bentinck.  The  joke  of  their  appointment  to 
office  is  not  made  dubious  by  the  thought  that 
possibly  after  all  they  may  turn  out  to  be  Henry 
the  Fifths.  Mr.  Cavendish  Bentinck  shared 
Mr.  Lowther's  peculiarity  for  manifesting  him- 
self at  untimely  hours  of  the  night  with  the 
object  of  obstructing  business,  but  his  manner 

88 


The  Official  Member 

of  accomplishing  his  desire  was  markedly  dif- 
ferent. Mr.  Lowther  often  got  the  House  to 
laugh  with  him  ;  Mr.  Cavendish  Bentinck  was 
always  laughed  at.  He  had  one  article  of 
political  faith,  and  it  was  expressed  in  the 
declaration  that  no  good  thing  could  come  out 
of  a  Cabinet  which  had  Mr.  Gladstone  for  its 
chief.  Just  as  Mr.  Newdegate  always  drags 
the  Pope  into  his  speeches,  and  as  Mr.  Dick 
invariably  introduced  the  head  of  King  Charles 
I  into  his  Memorial,  so  did  Mr.  Cavendish 
Bentinck  refer  to  Mr.  Gladstone's  personal 
agency  the  passing  difficulty  of  the  moment. 
Habitues  of  the  House  of  Commons  during 
Mr.  Gladstone's  Ministry  will  be  able  to  recall  a 
series  of  midnight  scenes  in  which  Mr.  Caven- 
dish Bentinck  appears  in  his  well-known  place 
at  the  first  seat  on  the  second  bench  below  the 
gangway — flushed  face,  rumpled  hair,  white 
necktie,  and  a  great  display  of  shirt-front. 
Below  him  sits  his  distinguished  connection  of 
the  same  name,  who  occasionally  turns  and 
whispers  some  fresh  point  against  the  guilty 
Gladstone.  Behind,  in  the  same  line,  is  bluff 
Sir  James  Elphinstone,  who,  prodding  him 
mercilessly  in  the  small  of  the  back  to  attract 
his  attention,  adds  hints  in  the  same  direction. 
Between  the  two  it  is  no  wonder  that  Mr. 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

Cavendish  Bentinck  sometimes  lets  drop  unpar- 
liamentary remarks,  which,  amidst  roars  of 
laughter,  he  presently  retracts.  One  valuable 
quality,  it  must  be  admitted,  he  had.  It 
was  the  rare  power  to  make  Mr.  Gladstone 
humorous.  It  often  happened  in  the  Sessions 
of  1870-3  that  the  hon.  member  for 
Whitehaven  immediately  preceded  the  Leader 
of  the  House,  and,  if  he  had  not  in  his 
remarks  gone  beyond  the  limits  of  human 
patience,  Mr.  Gladstone  used  to  play  with 
him  as  a  kitten  plays  with  a  ball,  rolling  him 
over  and  over,  and  occasionally  giving  him  a 
pretty  smart  rap,  an  exercise  which  no  one 
enjoyed  with  more  uproarious  merriment  than 
Mr.  Cavendish  Bentinck  himself. 

In  the  case  of  Sir  James  Elphinstone  Mr. 
Disraeli's  humour  has  made  a  special  point. 
In  the  good  old  days  when  the  Honourable 
East  India  Company  flourished,  Sir  James 
commanded  one  of  its  ships,  and  was  probably 
as  good  a  skipper  as  ever  sailed  round  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope.  He  looks  every  inch  a  sailor, 
and  should  politics  ever  fail  and  adversity 
overtake  him  he  is  assured  of  a  competency 
as  long  as  the  nautical  drama  draws  a  house. 
If  he  had  nothing  to  do  but  walk  across  a 
stage  that  was  arranged  as  a  ship's  deck  it 

90 


The  Official  Member 

would  be  enough  to  invest  the  scene  with  a 
sense  of  realism.  In  familiar  speech  in  the 
House  of  Commons  he  is  known  as  "  the 
Bo'sun,"  and  his  swaggering,  cheery  walk  up 
the  floor  with  his  hat  held  firmly  in  his  hand, 
as  if  it  were  a  sou-wester  in  peril  from  a  stiff 
breeze,  is  redolent  of  the  quarter-deck.  His 
speech,  too,  bewrayeth  the  sailor.  He  was  in 
former  times  always  ready  with  a  few  general 
remarks  on  "  the  cheeseparing  Government  "  ; 
but  for  choice  he  preferred  to  board  them 
under  the  colours  of  the  Union  Jack.  I  think 
it  was  he  who  discovered  that  great  and  famous 
scandal  about  "  old  anchors."  At  any  rate, 
when  found  he  made  a  note  of  it,  and  was 
never  tired  of  casting  the  anchors  at  Mr. 
Childers  and  Mr.  Goschen.  Old  ropes  he  was 
also  strong  upon,  and  yellow  metal  for  ships' 
bottoms  ever  found  in  him  an  enlightened 
protector.  He  was  invariably  primed  with 
some  mysterious  information  about  the  Govern- 
ment's doings  in  the  dockyard,  which  he  some- 
times darkly  hinted  at  in  the  form  of  a 
question  blusteringly  put  to  the  First  Lord  of 
the  Admiralty,  oftener  embodied  in  a  reso- 
lution to  be  moved  on  going  into  Committee 
of  Supply.  He  was  not  often  right.  That 
did  not  matter,  as  nobody  minded  what  he  said, 

91 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

and  everybody  rather  liked  the  bluff  old  sailor, 
who  seemed  to  bring  into  the  enervating  air  of 
the  House  of  Commons  a  whiff  of  salt  sea 
breeze.  If  Sir  James  Elphinstone  was  to  be 
made  anything  at  all  in  the  Conservative 
Government,  it  was  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
he  would  have  been  a  Junior  Lord  of 
the  Admiralty.  Mr.  Disraeli  reserved  the 
Junior  Lordship  of  the  Admiralty  for  Sir  Massey 
Lopes,  who  is  great  on  local  burdens,  and 
made  a  Junior  Lord  of  the  Treasury  of  Sir 
James  Elphinstone,  who  knows  exactly  why  the 
Captain  went  down,  and  where  Her  Majesty's 
dockyard  would  have  been  in  another  year  had 
not  a  merciful  Providence  removed  the  cocked 
hat  of  office  from  Mr.  Goschen's  head.  It  is 
all  very  well  for  Mr.  Disraeli  to  have  his  joke, 
but  it  is  the  old  story  of  the  boys  and  the  frogs 
over  again.  As  a  critical  authority  on  naval 
matters  Sir  James  Elphinstone  is,  to  us  hence- 
forth as  Browning's  "  Lost  Leader,"  who,  "  just 
for  a  handful  of  silver  left  us,  just  for  a  riband 
to  stick  in  his  coat." 


We  that  had  loved  him  so,  followed  him,  honoured  him, 
Lived  in  his  mild  and  magnificent  eye, 

Learned  his  great  language,  caught  his  clear  accents, 
Made  him  our  pattern  to  live  and  to  die, 
92 


The  Official  Member 

will  do  so  no  more.  Possibly  Sir  James  may 
presently  get  restless,  and,  giving  up  his  £1,000 
a  year  and  his  inglorious  seat  on  the  Treasury 
Bench,  return,  with  telescope  under  his  arm,  to 
his  old  post  on  the  watch-tower.  But  he  will 
never  more  be  "the  Bo'sun  "  of  old.  Still  like 
the  "  Lost  Leader,"  his  repentance,  and  return 
to  a  seat  below  the  gangway,  would  bring  only 

the  glimmer  of  twilight, 
Never  glad  confident  morning  again. 


93 


CHAPTER   III 
THE    INDEPENDENT    MEMBER 

Pray  use  your  freedom,  and  so  far  if  it  please  you 
allow  me  mine  to  hear  you,  only  not  to  be  compelled 
to  take  your  moral  potions. 

MASSINGER. 

IN  a  paragraph  in  one  of  his  novels  Mr. 
Disraeli  "  detects  "  and  explains  "  the  real  cause 
of  all  the  irregular  and  unsettled  carriage  of 
public  men  which  so  perplexed  the  nation  after 
the  passing  of  the  Reform  Act."  The  cause 
simply  was  that  Earl  Grey's  Government,  carried 
in  upon  a  wave  of  popular  enthusiasm,  gained 
such  an  overwhelming  majority  in  the  House 
of  Commons  that  "  the  legitimate  Opposition 
was  destroyed,  and  a  moiety  of  the  supporters 
of  the  Government  had  to  discharge  the  duties 
of  the  Opposition."  '  The  general  election  of 
1832,"  the  distinguished  novelist  proceeds, 
"  abrogated  the  Parliamentary  Opposition  of 
England  which  had  practically  existed  for  more 

94 


The  Independent   Member 

than  a  century  and  half.  And  what  a  series  of 
equivocal  transactions  and  mortifying  adventures 
did  the  withdrawal  of  this  salutary  restraint  entail 
on  the  party  which  had  so  loudly  congratulated 
itself  and  the  country  that  it  was  at  length 
relieved  from  its  odious  repression  !  " 

If  for  the  date  given  1868  were  sub- 
stituted, no  one  prepared  to  make  due  allowance 
for  a  slight  party  bias  could  object  to  this 
passage  were  it  applied  by  way  of  historical 
description  to  the  epoch  lying  between  the 
autumn  of  1868  and  the  spring  of  1874.  Nor 
would  the  reflections  with  which  Mr.  Disraeli 
accompanies  his  statement  have  excited  any 
remark  by  reason  of  incongruity  had  they  been 
found  embodied  in  a  newspaper  leading  article 
published  in  March,  1874,  on  the  downfall  of 
the  Gladstone  Ministry.  "  No  Government,"  he 
wrote,  "  can  be  long  secure  without  a  formidable 
Opposition.  It  reduces  their  supporters  to  the 
tractable  number  which  can  be  managed  by  the 
joint  influences  of  fruition  and  hope.  It  offers 
vengeance  to  the  discontented  and  distinction  to 
the  ambitious,  and  employs  the  energies  of 
aspiring  spirits  who  otherwise  may  prove  traitors 
in  a  division  or  assassins  in  a  debate." 

With  the  overwhelming  Parliamentary  majority 
given  to  Earl  Grey  by  the  general  election  after 

95 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

the  passing  of  the  Reform  Act,  his  administration 
lasted  just  two  years.  Mr.  Gladstone's  majority 
in  1868  being  only  something  over  100,  he 
remained  in  power  for  upwards  of  five  years. 
Mr.  Disraeli's  majority,  as  tested  by  the  first 
party  division  of  the  new  Parliament,  is  over 
sixty.  Time  will  show  whether  the  curious  theory 
here  adumbrated  will  be  carried  out  to  its 
natural  issue.  Already  it  is  clear  that  the 
tendency  to  self-destruction  which  large  majori- 
ties carry  with  them  is,  in  the  new  Parliament, 
weakened  to  the  extent  of  the  almost  absolute 
extinction  of  the  party  described  in  the  last  five 
lines  of  the  quotation  from  Coningsby,  and  which 
for  brevity  we  call  "  The  Independent  Member." 
In  the  late  Parliament  the  independent  member 
exercised  from  his  stronghold  "  below  the  gang- 
way "  an  enormous  influence,  the  more  felt 
because  no  one  could  with  certainty  forecast 
the  direction  in  which  it  would  be  exercised. 
On  more  than  one  critical  occasion  he  curbed 
the  power  of  the  strongest  Ministry  that  has 
governed  England  in  recent  years.  In  the  new 
Parliament  the  independent  member  has  tem- 
porarily ceased  to  exist  as  a  section.  Even 
as  an  individual  he  is  mightily  subdued,  and 
roars  you  as  gently  as  a  sucking  dove. 

The   independent   member   has   not  in    recent 


The  Independent  Member 

Parliaments  flourished  on  the  Tory  side  of  the 
House,  possibly  because  of  the  non-existence  of 
the  generating  power  of  a  large  majority, 
probably  because  the  atmosphere  of  the  quarter 
is  not  kindly  to  the  special  sort  of  growth. 
There  are  at  the  present  time  on  the  right 
hand  of  the  Speaker  three  types  of  the  inde- 
pendent member,  and  each  type  has  but  a 
single  representative.  Mr.  Smollett,  whose 
name  will  live  in  the  record  of  the  Session  of 
1874  much  in  the  same  way  as  the  name  of 
Eratostratus  the  Ephesian  lives  in  history,  has 
chiefly,  in  such  manifestations  as  the  House  of 
Commons  have  been  favoured  with,  shown 
himself  "  independent  "  of  the  trammels  in 
which  modern  manners  have  entangled  the 
Parliamentary  debater.  He  so  deeply  reveres 
the  memory  of  his  great  uncle  that  he  con- 
ceives the  literary  style  of  Roderick  Random 
will,  with  a  few  unimportant  alterations,  suit  a 
speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
This  is,  of  course,  a  mistake  ;  but  it  indicates 
the  presence  of  an  independent  mind,  and  when 
Mr.  Smollett  made  his  famous  speech  in  which 
he  arraigned  Mr.  Gladstone  as  "  a  trickster," 
he  formally  avowed  himself  an  independent 
member  by  throwing  mud  alike  over  Minis- 
terialists and  the  Opposition. 

97  G 


Men  and    Manner  in  Parliament 

Of  quite  another  type  is  Mr.  Scourfield,  who 
delights  to  rank  as  an  independent  member, 
and  has  his  little  foible  granted  by  an  indulgent 
House  which  has  watched  for  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  century  the  snows  of  wintry  age  falling 
lightly  on  his  head.  His  great  forte  is 
anecdote  and  homely  illustration,  a  good  cue 
for  a  speaker  when  skilfully  managed.  But 
unhappily  the  House  is  not  always  able  to 
detect  the  connection  between  Mr.  Scourfield's 
stories  and  the  subject  matter.  The  majority 
are,  moreover,  so  ancient  that  there  appeal 
to  be  some  grounds  for  the  assertion  which 
has  been  hazarded  that  they  originally  served 
to  enliven  the  evening  reunions  of  Noah's 
family  during  the  voyage  in  the  Ark.  Old 
or  new,  a  propos  or  irrelevant,  if  a  story  or 
an  illustration  occurs  to  the  mind  of  Mr.  Scour - 
field  in  the  course  of  a  debate,  it  is  reason 
sufficient  for  him  why  it  should  be  related  to 
the  House  of  Commons. 

There  was  once  an  old  gentleman  who 
had  a  choice  after-dinner  story  about  a  gun. 
He  invariably  brought  it  in  if  an  opening 
offered  in  the  course  of  conversation.  If 
no  such  opening  occurred,  it  was  the  old 
gentleman's  habit  slyly  to  kick  his  foot 
against  the  table,  and  thereupon  exclaim, 


The  Independent  Member 

"  Hullo  !  was  that  a  gun  ?  No  ?  Dear  me, 
it  was  very  like  one.  Talking  about  guns 
reminds  me"— and  then  the  story.  Mr.  Scour- 
field  has  not  the  delicate  feeling  of  this  old 
gentleman,  and  the  tables  of  his  hosts  are  safe 
from  damage  by  kicks.  When  he  gets  up 
to  speak,  he  promptly  folds  his  arms  across 
his  chest,  and  thereafter,  till  he  sits  down, 
a  constant  struggle  is  going  on,  the  arms 
restlessly  battling  to  unfold  themselves  and 
get  free,  Mr.  Scourfield  insisting  upon  their 
remaining  to  hear  the  anecdote  out.  Some- 
times they  do  get  clear  away,  but  it  is 
only  for  an  instant,  and  again  the  House  has 
before  it  the  tall,  white-headed  figure,  with  rest- 
less arms  folded  and  body  swaying  to  and  fro. 

The  third  and  last  independent  member  on 
the  Conservative  side  is  Mr.  George  William 
Pierrepoint  Bentinck,  irreverently  known  in  the 
Tea  Room  as  "  Big  Ben,"  to  distinguish  him 
from  his  connection,  Mr.  Cavendish  Bentinck. 
Mr.  Bentinck  is,  perhaps,  the  most  exact  type 
of  the  phenomenon.  Mr.  Smollett's  indepen- 
dence is  born,  as  has  been  hinted,  of  a  too 
exclusive  study  of  his  great  relative's  literary 
style  as  exemplified  in  his  novels.  Mr.  Scour- 
field  is  independent  because  he  really  is  gifted 
with  some  sprinkling  of  the  strong  salt  of 

99 


Men   and    Manner  in  Parliament 

common  sense,  and  because  if  a  man  were  a 
partisan  he  could  tell  prehistoric  anecdotes 
bearing  on  one  side  of  a  question  only,  whereas, 
being  an  independent  member,  he  can  first  lean 
to  one  side  and  then  to  the  other  as  the  gist  of 
the  story  may  go.  It  is  Mr.  Bentinck's  special 
pride  to  describe  himself  as  "  a  Tory,"  and  his 
independence  arises  from  the  fact  that  the  re"st 
of  his  party  have  profited  by  their  "  education," 
some  in  larger,  some  in  smaller  degree,  all 
in  measure  that  has  left  him  standing  dis- 
tinctly alone  in  the  rear,  the  Ajax  of  Toryism^ 
defying  the  lightning  of  increased  knowledge 
and  more  widely  spread  intelligence.  It  adds 
a  touch  of  humour  to  his  manifestations 
to  know  that  he  has,  beyond  all  question, 
convinced  himself  that  he  has  a  mission 
to  perform,  and  that  it  is  really  a  serious 
matter  for  the  country  when,  having  decided 
what  points  he  shall  take  up,  he  slowly  rises 
and,  in  deep  guttural  voice,  addresses  the 
House.  It  is  a  charming  fancy  to  picture 
him  sitting  down  before  books  and  papers 
(for  doubtless  he  reads  sometimes)  and  delibe- 
rately settling  himself  to  form  an  independent 
opinion.  He  always,  when  speaking,  carries 
in  his  hand  a  few  slips  of  paper,  to  which  he 
constantly  refers  as  he  proceeds.  These  must 

100 


The  Independent  Member 

be  his  notes,  and  each  underscored  line  will  be 
"  a  point."  Fancy  Mr.  Bentinck's  mind  dis- 
covering a  point  in  an  argument  or  a  case, 
following  it  up  and  causing  his  hand  to  note  it 
down  1  When  the  "  points  "  come  to  be  laid 
before  the  House  they  have  generally  dwindled 
to  the  infinitesimal,  and  not  unfrequently  are 
based  upon  an  imaginary  fact  or  a  misunder- 
stood statement.  He  has  an  impressive 
way  of  focusing  his  ideas  upon  one  leading 
point,  at  which  he  dully  hammers,  and  on 
which  he  insists  upon  having  a  direct  answer. 
"  Now  let  the  right  hon.  gentleman  answer  me 
that,"  he  says.  Oftener  than  otherwise  the 
right  hon.  gentleman  referred  to  takes  no 
notice  of  Mr.  Bentinck  or  his  speech.  But  that 
does  not  grieve  him.  He  has  had  his  say. 
West  Norfolk  knows  that  he  is  on  the  alert, 
and  if  the  nation  neglects  his  warnings  the 
nation's  blood  be  upon  its  own  head.  During 
the  Session  of  1874  ne  discovered  in  him- 
self a  capacity  for  criticism  on  naval  affairs, 
which  at  one  time  seemed  likely  to  prove 
fatal  to  some  of  the  older  and,  bodily,  weaker 
officials  of  the  House  who  were  compelled 
to  sit  and  listen  to  him.  He  was  up  on  all 
possible  occasions,  and  on  some  which  were  in 
advance  fondly  regarded  as  impossible.  It  was 

101 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

"  our  Reserve/'  or  rather  the  absence  of  our 
Reserve,  which  was  at  this  epoch  troubling 
his  soul.  "Where  is  your  Reserve?"  he 
asked,  bending  beetling  brows  and,  out  of 
old  habit,  addressing  himself  to  Mr.  Goschen. 
"  Why,  you  have  got  no  Reserve,  and  where 
will  you  be  supposing  a  war  breaks  out 
to-morrow  ? "  Sometimes  a  Minister  or  an 
ex-Minister  deprecatingly  placed  a  few  facts 
at  his  disposal  in  answer  to  his  ques- 
tion, and  the  House  thought  the  matter  was 
settled.  But,  alas  !  on  the  first  succeeding 
opportunity  Mr.  Bentinck  presented  himself 
with  the  same  piece  of  paper  in  his  left  hand, 
the  same  beetling  brows,  and  the  same  terrible 
inquiry,  provokingly  put  as  though  it  were 
being  propounded  for  the  first  time — "  Where's 
your  Reserve  ?  Why,  you've  got  no  Reserve, 
and  where  will  you  be  supposing  a  war  breaks 
out  to-morrow?  " 

In  the  preceding  Session  he  used  to  con- 
tribute to  the  hilarity  of  the  House  by 
the  comic  fierceness  of  his  attacks  upon  Mr. 
Disraeli,  and  the  provoking  affectation  of 
not  hearing  him  which  the  Conservative 
leader  was  wont  on  such  occasions  to  assume. 
Indeed  at  one  time  it  was  hard  to  say  whom 
Mr.  Bentinck  more  distrusted  and  disliked, 

102 


The  Independent  Member 

Mr.  Gladstone  or  Mr.  Disraeli.  He  thought 
the  country  safe  in  the  hands  of  neither,  and 
he  played  the  patriot's  part  by  denouncing  both. 
On  the  other  side  of  the  House  the  ranks  of 
independent  membership  have  lost  two  notable 
leaders  in  Mr.  Henry  James  and  Mr.  Vernon 
Harcourt.  The  former  is  now  "  Sir  Henry," 
and  the  latter  has,  with  significant  complete- 
ness, announced  his  utter  putting  off  of  the 
old  Adam  by  dropping  the  compound  surname 
with  which  the  public  were  long  familiar, 
appearing  in  the  Parliamentary  reports  dis- 
guised as  "  Sir  William  Harcourt."  Both  these 
hon.  and  learned  gentlemen  now  take  rank 
amongst  ex -Ministers,  but  the  sweets  of  office 
were  to  them  but  a  Barmecide  feast.  As  in 
the  House  of  Commons  they  have  not  appeared, 
even  for  a  single  day,  as  Ministers,  they  are 
best  here  dealt  with  in  the  review  of  the  inde- 
pendent members.  Of  the  two,  though  Mr. 
Henry  James  took  precedence  of  Mr.  Vernon 
Harcourt  when  the  Premier  whom  they  had 
both  baited  divided  office  between  them,  the 
latter  is,  intellectually,  by  far  the  greater 
man.  Sir  Henry  is  the  sort  of  person 
to  look  upon  in  a  great  historic  assembly 
when  one  desires  fully  to  enter  into 
and  comprehend  the  feelings  of  the  veteran 

103 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

Hotspur,  when  after  the  battle  there  came 
to  him 

A  certain  lord,  neat,  trimly  dressed, 
Fresh  as  a  bridegroom  ;  and  his  chin,  new  reaped, 
Showed  like  a  stubble  land  at  harvest  home. 

We  can,  looking  across  at  Sir  Henry  James 
sitting  in  the  seat  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  under- 
stand how  the  grim  soldier,  regarding  this 
"  popinjay,"  was 

made  mad 

To  see  him  shine  so  brisk  and  smell  so  sweet, 
And  talk  so  like  a  waiting  gentlewoman 
Of  guns  and  drums  and  wounds. 

Withal,  the  ex -Attorney-General  is  a  debater 
of  fair  ability  and  forensic  style,  sees  a 
weak  point  in  an  argument  with  the  trained 
quickness  of  a  practising  barrister,  and  brings 
to  bear  upon  it  with  considerable  effect  a  light 
field  artillery,  of  which,  whilst  the  guns  are 
not  of  heavy  calibre,  the  barrels  are  certainly 
polished,  and  the  harness  is  bright  and  natty. 
This  is  not  his  own  estimate  of  his  char- 
acter. Evidences  of  his  holding  one  much 
higher  appear  with  unfortunate  conspicuous - 
ness  in  his  manner  in  the  House.  There  is 
a  saying  in  Herefordshire,  the  county  distin- 
guished as  that  of  Sir  Henry's  birth, 

104 


The  Independent  Member 

which  modestly  declares  :  "  What  I  know  and 
what  you  don't  know  would,  if  put  together, 
make  a  big  book."  Regarding  him  as 
he  reclines  upon  the  front  Opposition  Bench 
and  loftily  glances  round  at  his  fellow -members, 
it  is  impossible  to  resist  the  suspicion  that  he  is 
repeating  this  formula  to  himself.  He  has 
characteristically  selected  the  seat  next  to  and 
just  above  that  assigned  by  custom  to  the 
Leader  of  the  Opposition,  and  whenever  he 
speaks  he  places  himself  in  front  of  the  brass  - 
bound  box,  whereon  of  late  Mr.  Disraeli  leaned 
when  Mr.  Gladstone  sat  opposite  to  him  and 
led  a  great  majority. 

.  This  little  weakness  has  induced  an  evil 
habit  which  greatly  detracts  from  the 
pleasure  with  which  the  House  might  other- 
wise listen  to  him.  Placing  a  hand  on 
either  side  of  the  box,  he,  the  while  he  talks, 
advances  and  retires  a  pace  with  wearisome 
monotony.  The  effect  is  not  improved  by 
his  holding  down  his  head  and  looking  at 
his  boots  when  he  has  got  the  box  at  full  arm's 
length.  His  style  of  address  is  strongly  marked 
by  the  peculiarities  acquired  at  the  Bar.  In 
particular  he  appears  to  be  profoundly  impressed 
with  the  moral  effect  of  smiting  desk  or  table 
with  his  hand  by  way  of  enforcing  an  argu- 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

ment.  His  voice,  naturally  an  average  good 
one,  is  spoiled  in  the  delivery  by  a  modulation 
that  must  have  been  learnt  in  a  conventicle. 
When  specially  impressed  with  the  importance 
of  his  observations  his  tones  became  almost 
funereal.  At  other  times  he  speaks  with  rapid 
utterance,  and  a  peculiar  see -saw  emphasis  that 
generally  succeeds  in  bringing  into  prominence 
the  first  syllable  of  every  fifth  word. 

Sir  W.  Harcourt  has  the  Parliamentary  advan- 
tages of  a  commanding  presence,  a  good  voice, 
and  very  little  practice  at  the  Bar.  No  one 
hearing  him  speak  would  guess  that  he  is 
a  lawyer,  much  less  a  Queen's  Counsel.  His 
gestures  are  few,  and,  though  not  eloquent, 
are  at  least  unobtrusive.  He  is  a  scholarly 
man  and  a  wit,  and  there  are  cast  about  in  the 
speeches  he  has  delivered  in  the  House  as  many 
"  good  things  "  as  will  be  found  in  an  equal 
number  of  average  orations  by  far  more  cele- 
brated speakers.  The  pity  of  it  is  that  he  has 
never  succeeded  in  impressing  the  House  with  a 
belief  in  his  sincerity.  Rightly  or  wrongly,  he 
has  ever  been  regarded  as  a  place-hunter,  and 
when  during  the  Ministerial  crisis  in  the  Session 
of  1873  he  made  a  damaging  speech,  Mr. 
Disraeli  took  all  the  sting  out  of  it  by  slyly 
observing  that  he  "  did  not  know  whether  the 

106 


The  Independent  Member 

House  was  yet  to  regard  the  observations  of  the 
hon.  member  for  Oxford  as  carrying  the  weight 
of  a  Solicitor-General."  In  the  same  way  some 
of  his  most  epigrammatic  sentences  miss  fire 
because,  whilst  they  are  put  forth  as  being 
impromptu,  the  House  insists  upon  detecting 
about  them  the  smell  of  the  lamp.  Another 
reason  why  his  bons  mots  do  not  have  the 
success  their  literary  merit  demands  is  that 
he  is  so  moved  by  his  own  humour 
that  he  indulges  in  an  involuntary  chuckle 
by  way  of  preface,  and  after  he  has  safely 
delivered  his  precious  charge  gets  over  an 
awkward  pause  that  thereupon  occurs  by  an 
unmusical  noise  like  a  prolonged  A-a-a-a—  — . 
In  a  long  speech  he  is  apt  to  grow  heavy — or 
perhaps  only  appears  so  from  the  fact  that  he 
is  expected  to  be  uniformly  smart,  and  brevity 
is  the  soul  of  wit.  It  is  in  short,  sharp  attack, 
a  lively  diversion  interposed  in  the  jousts 
between  the  thunderous  encounters  of  the 
Achilles  and  the  Hector  of  debate,  that  Mr. 
Vernon  Har  court  shone  in  times  past.  In 
becoming  "  Sir  William  Harcourt  "  he  adven- 
turously abandoned  the  primitive  but  proved 
sling  and  stone  for  the  cumbrous  armour  and 
the  unaccustomed  spear.  For  how  short  a 
time  he  wore  these,  and  under  what  circum- 

107 


Men  and  Manner  in   Parliament 

stances   they  were  cast  aside,  is   fully  set  forth 
in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

For  strength  of  character,  political  integrity, 
inflexibility  of  purpose,  and  power  in  debate, 
Mr.  Fawcett  is  the  model  independent  member 
of  the  House  of  Commons.  Elected  in  1865, 
at  a  period  when  the  nation  seemed  to  be 
awakening  to  the  desirability  of  having  culture 
as  well  as  cotton  represented  in  Parliament, 
he,  like  John  Stuart  Mill,  excited  in  the 
public  mind  a  lively  expectation  of  great  things. 
He  strove  valiantly  to  justify  this  expectation 
by  continually  pronouncing  an  opinion  upon  all 
questions  that  cropped  up  in  the  House.  At 
first  he  was  received  with  the  respect  due  to 
his  literary  reputation  ;  but  there  is  nothing  the 
House  of  Commons  gets  tired  of  sooner  than 
of  one  who  is  constantly  presenting  himself  and 
offering  his  judgment  on  the  question  of  the 
moment,  whatever  it  may  chance  to  be.  If  a 
man  has  made  himself  an  authority  on  a  given 
subject,  he  is  invariably  permitted  to  say  his 
say  thereupon,  however  dreary  may  be  his 
speech,  however  inane  his  ideas.  Even  Mr, 
Macfie  was  once  every  year  allowed  to  engross 
the  best  part  of  a  night  by  discoursing  upon  the 
income  tax,  and  Mr.  Alderman  McArthur's 
rising  to  deliver  a  lecture  on  the  Fiji  Islands 

108 


The  Independent  Member 

was  not  resented  otherwise  than  by  a  sigh  of 
resignation.  But  the  line  must  be  drawn  some- 
where, and  had  Mr.  Macfie  set  up  as  an 
authority  upon  Fiji,  or  had  Mr.  Alderman 
McArthur  ventured  to  assert  original  dicta 
bearing  upon  the  income  tax,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  House  of  Commons  would  have 
howled  them  down.  Mr.  Fawcett  laboured 
under  the  additional  disadvantage  of  new 
membership.  Nothing  can  exceed  the  courtesy 
with  which  a  maiden  speech  is  listened  to  in 
the  House  of  Commons ;  the  new  member, 
if  he  is  wise,  will  refrain  from  letting  his 
second  appearance  follow  too  closely  on  his  first. 
A  striking  example  of  the  danger  that 
lurks  under  the  tendency  to  infringe  this  rule 
was  furnished  in  the  Session  of  1873  DY  me  case 
of  Mr.  Charles  Lewis.  This  gentleman  made  a 
really  able  maiden  speech  during  the  course  of 
the  debate  on  the  Irish  University  Bill.  It 
was  a  good  deal  talked  about,  and  the 
consequence  was  that,  unhappily  becoming 
impressed  with  the  idea  that  the  eyes  of 
the  House  were  upon  him  whenever  he 
crossed  the  bar,  he  took  to  speaking  in  every 
debate,  with  the  result  that  he  was  speedily 
voted  a  bore;  and  towards  the  end  of  the 
Session  had  utterly  lost  as  fair  a  chance  as 

109 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

falls  to  the  lot  of  the  average  young 
member.  Mr.  Fawcett,  being  a  far  higher 
class  man,  did  not  fall  so  soon ;  but  fall 
he  did,  and  his  uprising  in  a  debate  invari- 
ably became  the  signal  for  that  sustained  cry 
of  "  'Vide,  Vide,  Vide,  Vide,  Vide !  "  that 
falls  like  a  wet  blanket  upon  an  undesirable 
speaker. 

Mr.  Fawcett  is  not  a  man  who  may  be 
smothered  in  the  folds  of  a  wet  blanket.  I 
have  seen  him  stand  for  fifteen  minutes  by 
the  clock  over  the  bar  endeavouring  to  finish 
a  sentence  which  the  House  protested  it 
would  not  hear.  It  happened  during  the 
debate  on  the  Education  Bill.  The  Ministry 
had  coalesced  with  the  Conservatives  in  the 
enterprise  of  passing  a  clause  which  was  as 
wormwood  and  gall  to  hon.  members  below 
the  gangway.  Mr.  Fawcett  was  declaiming 
in  a  strain  of  fervid  eloquence  against  the 
spirit  which,  he  said,  had  unaccountably  taken 
possession  of  the  Liberal  Ministry.  Mr.  Lowe, 
in  his  customary  trenchant  style,  earlier 
in  the  debate,  protested  against  the  unyielding 
hostility  of  the  Irreconcilables,  likening  them  to 
a  herd  of  cattle  which,  having  given  to  them 
a  broad  pasture  whereon  to  browse,  discovered 
in  one  corner  a  bed  of  nettles,  and,  forgetting 

no 


The   Independent  Member 

the  sweet  pasture  to  be  found  elsewhere.,  stood 
bellowing  their  ,  discontent  around  this  little 
patch. 

'  The  right  hon.  gentleman  has  likened  us  to 
a  herd  of  cattle,"  said  Mr.  Fawcett.  "  Let  me 
remind  him  and  the  Ministry  of  which  he  is  a 
distinguished  member  of  the  fate  that  befell 
another  herd  into  which  evil  spirits  had  entered, 
and  which,  running  violently  down  a  steep  place 
into  the  sea—  At  this  moment  the 

House  caught  the  bold  allusion,  and  broke 
into  a  roar  of  laughter,  cheers,  and  cries  of 
"  Divide  !  "  Mr.  Fawcett  waited  patiently  till 
the  storm  appeared  to  have  subsided,  and 
then,  speaking  in  exactly  the  same  tone,  began 
again :  "  Which,  running  violently  down  a 
steep  place—  Once  more  the  roar  drowned 

his  voice.  '  Beginning  again  at  exactly  the  same 
word  when  a  lull  in  the  storm  seemed  to  offer 
an  opportunity,  he  was  again  overpowered,  only 
to  start  afresh  when  an  opening  presented  itself. 
The  contest  raged  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour. 
In  the  end  Mr.  Fawcett  triumphed,  and  con- 
tinuing at  the  word  he  had  originally  returned 
to,  proceeded,  "  Which,  running  violently  down  a 
steep  place  into  the  sea,  perished  in  the  waters." 
During  the  Session  of  1873  he  sud- 
denly found  himself  in  the  position  of  an 

in 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

acknowledged  power  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. The  accident  of  his  having  intro- 
duced a  measure  affecting  Irish  University 
Education,  which  the  Government  first  of  all 
pooh-poohed,  having  their  own  scheme  in  hand, 
and  finally,  after  some  rather  ungracious  treat- 
ment by  Mr.  Gladstone,  were  ultimately  fain 
to  adopt,  raised  him  to  something  very  like 
the  altitude  of  an  arbiter.  What  he  would 
do  with  his  Bill  was  at  one  time  a  very 
serious  matter  for  the  Ministry.  To  the  sur- 
prise of  many  who  had  mistaken  his  firm- 
ness for  obstinacy  and  his  independence  for 
recklessness,  he  conducted  himself  throughout 
the  crisis  with  rare  moderation  and  dignity, 
refraining  from  hampering  the  Ministry  whilst 
their  plan  was  before  the  House,  and  when  it 
had  failed  and  Hs  own  became  a  necessity  dis- 
playing neither  triumph  nor  temper. 

How  far  this  new  policy  on  the  part 
of  the  member  for  Brighton  had  prevailed 
over  the  prejudices  his  earlier  enthusiasm 
had  excited  against  him  was  testified  in  a 
remarkable  manner  at  a  critical  moment 
when  the  Education  Act  Amendment  Bill 
was  being  pressed  •  forward  by  Mr.  Forster. 
Mr.  Fawcett  took  a  characteristically  bold  course 
on  the  occasion  by  separating  himself  from  the 

112 


The  Independent  Member 

class  represented  by  Mr.  George  Dixon,  and 
declaring  for  the  Government  measure.  The 
occasions  are  rare  in  Parliamentary  history 
that  a  crowded  House  has  been  so  abso- 
lutely swayed  by  the  eloquence  of  a  private 
member  as  it  was  on  the  night  when  he 
made  clear  his  intentions  in  this  matter.  Mr. 
Bright  has  frequently  had  great  oratorical 
triumphs,  speaking  from  the  bench  behind  that 
at  which  the  sightless  Professor  stood.  But  the 
applause  Mr.  Bright's  eloquence  was  accus- 
tomed to  call  forth  came  chiefly  from  one 
side  of  the  House,  whereas  Mr.  Fawcett  drew 
alternately  and  at  will  enthusiastic  cheers  alike 
from  the  Conservative  as  from  the  Liberal  ranks. 
Mr.  Gladstone  himself  was  quite  excited,  lean- 
ing forward  with  hands  clasped  over  his  knees, 
watching  for  the  words  as  they  fell  from  the 
speaker's  lips,  whilst  Mr.  Forster  lost  no  time 
in  declaring  that  "  amid  the  numerous  very 
powerful  speeches  delivered  by  the  hon.  member 
for  Brighton,  this  assuredly  was  the  most 
moving."  A  great  triumph  this,  remembering 
the  quarter  of  an  hour's  struggle  for  a  hearing 
two  Sessions  back. 

Critically  regarded,  Mr.  Fawcett  suffers  much 
as  a  speaker  from  a  habit  of  pitching  his 
magnificent  voice  at  too  level  a  monotony  of 

113  H 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

height,  and  "  mouthing "  his  words  when  he 
desires  to  be  specially  emphatic.  His  addresses 
to  Parliament  are  more  of  professorial  exer- 
citations  than  statesmanlike  orations.  He  lacks 
the  fancy  and  imagination  which  make  the 
whole  world  the  domain  of  the  true  orator  and 
enable  him  to  bring  all  its  treasures  to  lay  at 
the  feet  of  his  audience.  Within  the  two 
years  last  past  he  has  shown  signs  of  the 
disenthralment  of  his  mind  from  the  trammels 
of  sectarianism,  and  in  proportion  to  his  pro- 
gress in  this  direction  has  been  his  advance  in 
the  estimation  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
There  will  always  be  much  of  the  Puritan 
about  him.  Of  late  the  manifestations  of 
this  spirit  have  been  tempered  by  a  fuller 
measure  of  charity,  and  he  has  tacitly  admitted 
that  those  who  differ  from  him  on  matters  of 
opinion  are  not  therefore  necessarily  pre- 
destined to  perpetual  residence  in  the  place 
where  the  worm  dieth  not  and  the  fire  is  never 
quenched.  Having  once  gained  the  respectful 
attention  of  the  House,  and  having,  it  is  to  be 
hoped,  finally  overcome  the  evil  habit  of  making 
his  counsel  too  cheap  by  continually  proffering 
it  on  miscellaneous  topics,  there  are  no  bounds 
to  the  possible  heights  he  might  reach  in  the 
State  if  his  acceptance  of  office  were  con- 

114 


HENRY   FAWCETT. 
(1833-1884.) 


To  face  p.  114. 


The  Independent  Member 

ceivable.  With  Mr.  Bright  in  the  Cabinet, 
and  Saul  among  the  prophets,  all  things  in 
this  direction  are  possible.  The  human  mind 
is  slow  to  accustom  itself  to  the  idea  of  Mr. 
Fawcett  sitting  on  the  Treasury  Bench.1 

The  new  adjustment  of  the  balance  of  parties 
has  had  the  effect  of  causing  Mr.  George 
'Dixon  to  retire  into  comparative  oblivion, 
though  there  are  signs  abroad  that  the  retire- 
ment is  only  temporary.  In  other  days  Mr. 
Dixon  was  generally  listened  to  with  atten- 
tion, being  acknowledged  as  the  spokesman  of 
what  in  the  last  Parliament  had  come  to  be 
regarded  as  an  influential  party ;  but  to  follow 
his  speech  was  a  duty  rather  than  a  pleasure. 
He  has  a  hard,  dry,  bald  style ;  speaks  in 
unmusical  tones ;  if  one  did  not  hear  his 
voice  or  see  his  lips  move,  he  would  get  no 
indication  from  his  face  that  he  was  address- 
ing a  large  assembly.  The  House,  reasonably 
enough,  laughs  when  Mr.  Synan  shouts  till 
he  is  red  in  the  face,  and  conducts  himself 
generally  in  a  manner  that  might,  and  would  but 
for  the  odd  gleam  of  good-humour  that  per- 
sistently lurks  in  the  corners  of  his  mouth,  terrify 
nervous  members  with  the  apprehension  that 

1  He    was    called    thither   in    1880    with    the   rank  of 
Postmaster-General. 

"5 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

presently  one  of  them  was  to  be  eaten.  But 
none  the  less  does  it  dislike  to  have  the  sensa- 
tion creeping  over  it  that  it  is  being  addressed 
by  a  wooden  figure-head  from  a  ship's  bows. 
There  is  a  happy  medium  in  this  sort  of  thing. 
It  lies  somewhere  between  the  style  of  Mr. 
Synan  and  that  of  Mr.  Dixon. 

Mr.  Mundella  fortunately  has  not  been  dis- 
composed by  finding  himself  vls-d-vis  a  strong 
Ministry.  He  is  as  ready  as  ever  to  proffer 
advice  in  critical  moments,  and  to  bestow  upon 
the  House  of  Commons  the  value  of  the  experi- 
ence gained  by  him  during  his  memorable 
fortnight's  visit  to  Germany  and  Switzerland. 
No  one  can  say— probably  because  no  one  dare 
venture  to  sit  down  before  the  problem — how  we 
managed  to  get  on  at  all  before  Mr.  Mundella 
went  that  journey.  If  since  his  return  matters 
have  not  mended,  it  is  not  for  lack  of 
counsel  on  the  part  of  the  hon.  member 
for  Sheffield.  He  never  makes  a  short 
speech,  and  neither  his  manner  nor  his 
matter  renders  a  long  one  endurable.  It  is  a 
curious  contradiction  of  nature  that  a  professed 
humanitarian  who  has  made  such  great  efforts 
in  the  direction  pf  shortening  the  hours  of 
labour  in  factbries  should  himself  unrelent- 
ingly talk  to  the  hapless  House  of  Commons 

116 


The  Independent  Member 

for  two  hours  and  a  half  at  a  stretch.  It 
does  not  seem  fitting  that,  in  this  respect,  there 
should  continue  to  be  one  law  for  the  factory 
owner  and  another  for  the  hon.  member  for 
Sheffield. 

It  is  a  pleasant  change  when,  from  the  seat 
below,  Sir  Wilfrid  Lawson  rises  to  discourse 
on  the  evils  of  the  liquor  traffic  or  the  iniquity 
of  war.  "  The  hon.  and  amusing  baronet," 
as  Mr.  Knatchbull-Hugessen,  himself  never 
guilty  of  being  amusing,  peevishly  called  him, 
has  done  what  few  men  have  accomplished.  He 
has  thrown  an  air  of  geniality  over  teetotalism, 
and  has  made  "  a  man  with  a  mission  "  a 
welcome  interloper  in  debate  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  As  a  rule  Parliament  votes  men 
with  missions  impracticable  bores,  and  will  not 
listen  to  them.  But  it  is  always  ready  to  hear 
Sir  Wilfrid  Lawson,  and  is  rarely  disappointed 
in  its  expectation  of  being  interested  and  amused. 
He  is  neither  an  eloquent  man  nor  a  startlingly 
original  thinker.  But  he  has  a  happy  way  of  seiz- 
ing a  commonplace  idea,  dressing  it  up  in  some 
incongruous  fashion,  and  suddenly  producing  it 
for  the  consideration  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
Thousands  of  sermons  have  been  preached, 
thousands  of  verses  written,  on  the  empty  glories 
of  war.  Timotheus  placed  on  high  amid  the 

117 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

tuneful  choir  at  Alexander's  Feast  did  not  omit 
the  theme. 

War,  he  sung,  is  toil  and  trouble. 
Honour  but  an  empty  bubble, 
Never  ending,  still  beginning, 
Fighting  still  and  still  destroying. 

This  is  a  celebrated  verse,  but  it  does  not 
bring  home  to  men's  minds  the  underlying 
fact  to  the  same  extent  as  this  desirable  object 
was  obtained  by  Sir  Wilfrid  Lawson  when,  a 
few  nights  after  both  Houses  of  Parliament 
had  voted  their  thanks  to  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley 
and  his  troops,  he  incidentally  summed  up  the 
practical  results  of  the  Ashantee  expedition  as 
comprised  in  Great  Britain's  having  gained 
possession  of  "  a  Treaty  and  an  old  umbrella." 
"  No  Treaty !  "  shouted  out  an  hon.  member 
anxious  for  the  truth.  "  Well,  never  mind," 
said  Sir  Wilfrid ;  "it  doesn't  much  matter, 
for  I  don't  suppose  the  Treaty  would  be  worth 
any  more  than  the  umbrella."  The  hon. 
baronet's  style  of  speaking  is  well  suited  to 
his  humour,  and  greatly  adds  to  its  effect. 
He  does  not,  like  Mr.  Mundella,  "  make  a 
speech "  to  the  House.  He  just  has  a  chat 
with  it,  and  being  a  man  of  sense  and  humour, 
he  is  a  thoroughly  enjoyable  companion. 

118 


SIR   WILFRID   LAWSON*. 
(1829-1906.) 

Drawn  by  Sir  F.  Carruthers  Gould. 


[To  fare  p.  nf. 


The  Independent  Member 

Mr.  Anderson,  who  occasionally  proclaims  his 
independence  otherwise  than  by  sitting  below  the 
gangway,  speaks  with  a  curious  drawl  which 
force  of  long  association  has  in  imaginative 
minds  oddly  connected  with  the  necessity  for 
improvements  in  the  currency.  The  member  for 
Glasgow  holds  strong  convictions  on  the  cur- 
rency question,  and  amongst  the  things  which 
young  members  early  learn  to  avoid  is  his  annual 
speech  on  "  calling  attention "  thereto.  This 
arises  simply  from  the  unattractiveness  of  the 
subject  and  the  natural  antipathy  which  hope- 
less motions  annually  brought  forward  in  the 
House  of  Commons  awaken  in  the  human 
breast.  On  ordinary  topics  Mr.  Anderson  is  a 
clear  thinker  and  an  able  speaker,  and,  regard- 
ing matters  strictly  from  the  point  of  view  of 
intrinsic  merit,  often  throws  over  party  ques- 
tions an  air  of  originality.  He  has,  moreover, 
a  good  deal  of  dry  humour,  and  is  above  all  a 
fearless,  sturdy,  Cromwellian  man,  not  to  be 
turned  aside  from  the  path  of  what  he  holds  to 
be  his  duty  by  any  considerations  of  the  con- 
sequences of  giving  offence  in  high  quarters. 
His  conduct  in  the  Lord  Sandhurst  affair,  in 
the  Session  of  1874,  was  unexceptionally  good. 
It  is  difficult  to  say  wherein  he  most  com- 
pelled the  admiration  of  the  House — the  fear- 

119 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

lessness  with  which  he  set  himself  to  root  out  a 
wrong,  the  tenacity  with  which  he  followed  up 
his  purpose,  the  able  manner1  in  which  he  drew 
up  the  indictment,  or  the  self-restraint  and  good 
taste  with  which  he  acquitted  himself  of  a 
delicate  and  disagreeable  task. 

Among  modest,  unassuming  independent 
members  who  very  rarely  speak,  but  who, 
when  they  do,  have  something  to  say  that  is 
worth  listening  to,  are  Mr.  John  Holms  and  Mr. 
Watkin  Williams.  The  former  always  prepares 
his  speeches  with  infinite  painstaking,  generally 
selecting  a  subject  involving  great  interests  and 
much  minutiae — such,  for  example,  as  British 
rule  on  the  Gold  Coast,  on  which  he  delivered 
a  weighty  speech  in  the  Session  of  1874;  or 
the  question  of  Civil  Service  Expenditure,  on 
which,  by  the  sheer  force  of  argument  and 
illustration,  he  obtained  the  Ministerial  consent 
to  the  appointment  of  a  Royal  Commission.  Mr. 
'Holms  is  altogether  of  the  opinion  set  forth  in 
"  Armgart,"  that 

Life  is  not  rounded  in  an  epigram, 

And  saying  aught  we  leave  a  word  unsaid. 

It  is  highly  probable,  when  he  has  sat  down 
after  a  speech  extending  over  a  couple  of  hours 
or  more,  the  House,  if  polled,  would  triumph- 

120 


The   Independent  Member 

antly  acquit  him  of  having  left  a  word  unsaid, 
might  even  take  the  opportunity  of  hinting 
that  if  he  were  briefer  in  his  exposition  he 
might  gain  more  of  the  desired  effect.  But  we 
must  not  look  for  perfection,  and  if  Mr. 
Holms  were  as  witty  as  Sir  W.  Harcourt  he 
might  be  as  superficial.  He  is  the  sort  of  man 
that  would  please  the  eminent  authority  who, 
in  reply  to  an  invitation  to  lecture  in  the  city 
where  Mr.  Holms  has  his  place  of  business, 
recently  lifted  up  his  voice  against  '  your 
modern  fire-working,  smooth-downy-curry-and- 
strawberry-ice  and  milk-punch  altogether  lec- 
ture," as  being  "  an  entirely  pestilent  and 
abominable  vanity." 

Mr.  Watkin  Williams  never  makes  long 
speeches,  and  never  speaks  for  the  mere 
sake  of  talking.  He  has  the  reputation  of 
being  one  of  the  soundest  lawyers  in  the 
House.  When  in  1873  it  was  repeatedly 
stated  that  he  was  to  succeed  Sir  George  Jessel 
in  the  Solicitor-Generalship,  people  were  first 
surprised  and  then  pleased.  He  had  taken 
so  little  share  in  party  warfare,  and  had  so 
modestly  remained  in  the  background,  that  his 
name  did  not  come  trippingly  on  the  tongue  as 
a  claimant  for  place.  Being  mentioned,  and 
the  primitive  notion  of  making1  a  man  a  Solicitor- 

121 


Men  and  Manner  in   Parliament 

General  because  he  had  a  supreme  knowledge 
of  the  law  temporarily  reviving,  the  proposed 
appointment  was  very  popular.  No  one  was 
surprised,  however,  when  the  rumour  was  falsi- 
fied by  the  event  and  Mr.  Gladstone  selected 
as  junior  law  officer  of  the  Crown  the  showier 
and  more  shallow  member  for  Taunton  (Sir 
Henry  James). 

Sir  Charles  Dilke  does  not  owe  any  of 
the  Parliamentary  fame  he  may  possess  to 
gifts  of  oratory.  The  hon.  baronet  is,  to 
tell  the  truth,  a  very  wearisome  speaker, 
and  if  he  had  not,  as  a  rule,  something 
to  say  that  was  worth  listening  to,  he  would 
never  find  an  audience.  If  in  any  future  edition 
of  Robert  Montgomery's  poems  a  metaphori- 
cal illustration  were  required  for  the  famous 
stream  that 

Meandered  level  with  its  fount, 

the  publisher  could  not  do  better  than  procure  a 
carte -de -visite  portrait  of  the  hon.  member  for 
Chelsea  as  he  appears  when  addressing  the 
House  of  Commons.  He  usually  sits  on 
the  second  or  third  seat  on  the  front  bench 
below  the  gangway,  but  when  he  rises  to  make 
a  set  speech  he  invariably  stands  partly  in  the 

122 


SIR   CHARLES  AND   THE  SECOND    LADY   DILKE. 


[To  facs  p.  U2. 


The  Independent  Member 

gangway  itself  with  his  back  turned  to  his 
personal  friends.  The  note  upon  which  he  begins 
his  oration  is  marvellously  preserved  through- 
out its  full  length,  and  as  he  monotonously  turns 
his  body  from  left  to  right,  as  if  he  were  fixed 
on  a  pivot,  the  impression  he  leaves  on  the  mind 
of  the  beholder  is  that  the  reservoir  of  his 
speech  is  ingeniously  located  in  his  boots,  and 
that  he  is  pumping  it  up.  For  an  hour  at  a 
time  the  level  stream,  unrelieved  by  a  single 
coruscation  of  wit,  imagination,  fancy,  or 
humour,  flows  out  upon  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. The  House,  nevertheless,  attentively 
listens,  as  far  as  human  endurance  can  withstand 
the  more  than  mortal  monotony,  for  Sir  Charles 
generally  has  something  notable  to  say,  and 
has  a  fearless  way  of  saying  it  which,  to 
those  who  have  souls  capable  of  being  stirred 
by  the  fire  of  political  knight-errantry,  covers 
a  multitude  of  sins  of  manner. 

Mr.  Horsman  was  a  Lord  of  the  Treasury 
before  Sir  Charles  Dilke  was  born,  and  to-day 
sits  on  the  bench  behind  him,  an  independent 
member.  Perhaps,  with  the  exception  of  that 
of  Mr.  Roebuck,  his  Parliamentary  career 
is  the  most  interesting,  in  some  respects 
the  saddest,  which  occurs  to  one  looking 
round  the  faces  of  the  crowded  benches 

123 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

of  the  House  of  Commons.  He  has  always 
been  a  lonely  man,  sitting  apart  from  his 
fellows,  and,  on  five  days  out  of  the  week, 
scowling  upon  them.  His  political  friendships, 
made  at  rare  intervals,  have  invariably  been  of 
brief  duration,  and  generally  have  had  for 
raison  d'etre  an  imagined  necessity  for  attacking 
some  one.  Thus,  during  the  Austro -Prussian 
War,  his  sympathies  being  stirred  for  Austria, 
he  found  a  congenial  companion  in  Mr.  King- 
lake,  and  for  some  weeks  the  two  were 
inseparable.  A  more  widely-known  friend- 
ship was  that  struck  up  between  him  and 
Mr.  Lowe  at  the  epoch  of  the  great  Reform 
Bill  debates,  the  union  Mr.  Bright  immortalized 
by  likening  "  the  party  "  to  a  Scotch  terrier,  of 
which  no  one  could  determine  between  the 
two  extremities  which  was  the  head  and  which 
the  tail. 

When,  now  nearly  forty  years  ago,  Mr. 
Horsman  first  entered  Parliament,  he  seemed 
to  have  set  his  heart  upon  gaining  a  high  place 
in  Government.  In  1840  he  took  office  as  Lord 
of  the  Treasury  in  the  Administration  of 
Viscount  Melbourne.  He  went  out  with  the 
Ministry  when  Peel  returned  to  power  in  1841, 
appearing  again  on  the  Treasury  Bench  in  1855 
as  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland.  This  office  he 

124 


The  Independent  Member 

resigned  in  June,  1857,  for  the  singular  reason 
that  he  "  had  not  work  enough  to  do."  Since 
then  he  has  been  a  sort  of  Vicar  of  Bray  in 
the  ranks  of  the  Opposition — whatever  Ministry 
has  held  the  Treasury  Bench,  on  whichever 
side  of  the  House  he  has  himself  sat,  he  has 
preserved  intact  his  self -assumed  office  of  hostile 
critic. 

In  this  way  of  enjoying  life  Mr.  Horsman 
has,  as  may  be  easily  understood,  found  no 
further  lack  of  work  to  do.  A  "  superior 
person,"  regarding  public  events  from  lofty 
heights  fenced  about  by  no  personal  friendships 
and  no  party  ties,  need  have  no  idle  moments 
for  his  bitter  tongue.  Nor  can  the  accusation 
of  idleness  lie  against  Mr.  Horsman.  In  his 
enlightened  speeches  against  the  French  Com- 
mercial Treaty ;  in  his  denunciations  of  the 
abolition  of  the  tax  on  paper ;  in  his  promulga- 
tion, in  the  teeth  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  in  spite  of  the  British  Constitution,  of  the 
doctrine  that  in  dealing  with  money  Bills  the 
House  of  Lords  have  equal  rights  with  the 
representatives  of  the  people ;  in  his  fierce 
assaults  on  Prussia  ;  in  his  insinuations  against 
France  ;  in  his  tirades  against  Mr.  Cobden  and 
Mr.  Bright ;  in  his  personal  attack  on  Mr. 
Walter  in  connection  with  that  gentleman's 

125 


Men  and   Manner  in   Parliament 

management  of  his  private  property  and  the  dis- 
posal of  his  evening  hours  ;  and  in  his  invective 
against  the  late  Emperor  of  the  French,  who 
'  jockeyed  his  own  subjects  out  of  their  liberty," 
he  has  found  from  time  to  time  full  em- 
ployment of  a  kind  more  congenial  than  that 
of  assisting  Taper  and  Tadpole  at  the  Treasury, 
or  of  endeavouring  to  do  justice  to  Ireland. 
As  a  speaker  his  style  savours  a  good 
deal  of  the  Union  Debating  Society.  There 
is  a  steady  pendulum  swing  about  his  sen- 
tences which  irritates  the  familiar  listener  with 
the  consciousness  that  having  heard  the  first  por- 
tion he  knows  beforehand  how  they  will  finish. 
Sydney  Smith  satirized  the  undue  tendency 
to  antithesis  on  the  part  of  Dr.  Parr  by  a 
passage  in  which  he  reports  the  doctor 
observing  of  some  persons  that  "  they  have  pro- 
fundity without  obscurity,  perspicuity  without 
prolixity,  ornament  without  glare,  terseness  with- 
out barrenness,  penetration  without  subtlety, 
comprehensiveness  without  digression,  and  a 
great  number  of  other  things  without  a 
great  number  of  other  things."  Mr.  Horsman 
differs  from  "  the  learned  critic  and  eminent 
divine  "  (whom  there  is  too  much  reason  to  fear 
the  multitude  of  the  present  day  confound  with 
the  purveyor  of  pills),  inasmuch  that  his  prone - 

126 


The  Independent  Member 

ness  to  the  lavish  use  of  antithesis  is  shown  in 
the  construction  of  his  sentences  as  a  whole 
rather  than  in  the  contrasting  of  isolated  words. 
There  is  a  curious  expression  about  his  face 
which  consorts  well  with  the  general  tenor 
of  his  Parliamentary  addresses.  Somebody — I 
think  it  is  the  author  of  Rab  and  his  Friends— 
has  said  of  a  certain  dog  that  it  bore  upon 
its  face  an  expression  of  inquiring  interest,  as 
if  life  were  for  it  a  very  serious  thing.  Mr. 
Horsman,  when  he  is  putting  a  question  to 
Mr.  Disraeli,  has  upon  his  face  exactly  the 
look  here  referred  to,  which  any  one 
can  see  for  himself  by  approaching  an 
unfamiliar  bull -terrier  left  in  charge  of  the 
garden  entrance  to  a  house — a  look  of  anxious, 
doubtful,  half-surly  inquiry,  which  may  be  the 
prelude  either  to  a  savage  growl  or  to  an  intima- 
tion that  you  may  advance,  according  as  the 
scrutiny  proves  satisfactory  or  otherwise.  Mr. 
Horsman's  influence  upon  a  debate  has  greatly 
lessened  in  recent  Sessions.  But  he  is  still  a 
power  in  the  House,  and  will  probably  before 
Parliament  is  prorogued  have  something  sooth- 
ing to  say  about  his  ancient  adversary  the 
present  Premier. 

Sitting  in  the  corner  seat  of  the  front  bench 
below  the  gangway  on  the  Opposition  side  is  a 

127 


Men  and    Manner  in  Parliament 

man  so  old  and  feeble-looking  that  the  stranger 
wonders  what  he  does  here.  His  white  hair 
falls  about  a  beardless  face  comparatively 
fresh -looking,  though  the  eyes  lack  lustre 
and  the  mouth  is  drawn  in.  When  he  rises 
to  speak  he  bends  his  short  stature  over  a 
supporting  stick,  and  as  he  walks  down  to  the 
table  to  hand  in  the  perpetual  notice  of  motion 
or  of  question,  he  drags  across  the  floor  his 
leaden  feet  in  a  painful  way  that  sometimes 
suggests  to  well-meaning  members  the  proffer 
of  an  arm,  or  of  service  to  accomplish  the 
errand — advances  curtly  repelled,  for  this 
is  Mr.  Roebuck,  the  "  Dog  Tear'em "  of 
old,  toothless  now,  and  dim'  of  sight,  but  still 
high  in  spirit,  ever  ready  to  fight  with,  or  to 
snarl  and  snap  at,  the  unwary  passer-by. 

It  is  said  in  Tea-room  conversation  that 
Mr.  Roebuck  has  changed  his  political 
opinions  oftener  than  any  other  man  in  the 
present  House.  Perhaps  the  allegation,  whilst 
made  in  good  faith,  is  unconsciously  exag- 
gerated, because  Mr.  Roebuck,  on  which 
ever  side  he  has  ranged  himself,  has  always 
been  in  the  van  of  opinion,  and  has  pro- 
minently figured  as  its  exponent.  Conse- 
quently his  facings -about  occupy  a  larger 
space  in  the  memory  than  those  of  other  men. 

128 


The  Independent  Member 

There  was  a  time  when  he  was  a  thorough- 
paced Radical,  a  friend  of  Mr.  Stuart  Mill  and 
Sir  William  Molesworth.  He  has  twice  gradu- 
ated as  a  Tory,  with  some  bewildering  counter- 
marches and  strategic  movements  which  have 
finally  landed  him  in  the  political  position 
he  holds  to-day,  best  and  most  safely  de- 
scribed as  that  of  TVIr.  Roebuck,  the  member 
for  Sheffield.  In  one  of  his  papers  in  the 
Spectator,  Addison,  referring  to  the  contem- 
porary fashion  amongst  ladies  of  wearing  patches 
stuck  on  one  side  or  other  of  their  faces  accord- 
ing as  they  were  Whig  or  Tory,  says  :  "I  must 
here  take  notice  that  Rosalinda,  a  famous  Whig 
partisan,  has,  most  unfortunately,  a  very  beau- 
tiful mole  on  the  Tory  part  of  her  forehead, 
which  being  very  conspicuous  has  occasioned 
many  mistakes  and  given  a  handle  to  her 
enemies  to  misrepresent  her  face  as  though  it 
had  revolted  from  the  Whig  interest."  Mr. 
Roebuck  is,  with  a  difference,  in  the  same  unfor- 
tunate predicament  as  the  lady  here  referred  to. 
He  has  a  Tory  mole  on  the  Whig  part  of  his 
forehead,  and  during  his  political  career  has 
undergone  much  obloquy  due  to  the  numerous 
mistakes  therefrom  arising. 

He    is    a    good    lover    and    a    good    hater,' 
chiefly   the    latter.      A    Parliamentary    Ishmael, 

129  I 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

his  hand  has  been  against  every  one 
and  every  one's  hand  against  him.  Lord 
Palmerston,  Mr.  Disraeli,  Mr.  Bright,  Mr. 
Cobden — in  brief,  every  man  of  any  pro- 
minence in  the  House  of  Commons  during  the 
past  quarter  of  a  century,  has  at  one  time  or 
other  felt  the  fangs  of  "  Tear 'em."  The 
poor  wit  and  coarse  humour  of  Bernal  Osborne 
were  no  match  for  the  keen  and  poisoned 
darts  shot  forth  from  his  tongue.  Mr. 
Bethell,  since  known  as  Lord  Westbury,  was 
perhaps  the  only  man  in  the  House  in  the 
days  when  there  were  giants  who  could  beat  him 
at  his  own  weapons.  The  present  Mr.  Justice 
Keogh  sometimes  threw  himself  into  the  breach, 
and  once  even  silenced  the  terrible  talker  for 
a  whole  night  by  a  quotation  from  "  Macbeth." 
The  House  was  in  Committee,  and  Mr.  Roebuck 
had  been  up  three  times  with  objections  and 
aspersions.  When  Mr.  Keogh  rose  he  quietly 
opened  his  remarks  by  observing— 

Thrice  the  brindled  cat  hath  mewed. 

Persistent  attacks  upon  the  late  Emperor 
of  the  French  will  not  be  forgotten  by 
the  present  generation,  who  will  also  call  to 
mind  the  sudden  change  that  came  over  the 
hon.  member's  opinion  of  his  Majesty  at  a  later 

130 


The   Independent   Member 

epoch  of  the  Empire.  In  1854,  speaking 
in  his  place  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
he  protested  against  the  Queen  of  England's 
advancing  to  be  kissed  by  "  the  perjured  lips 
of  Louis  Napoleon."  Seven  years  later  he  went 
over  to  Paris  to  entreat  the  Emperor  to  interfere 
in  the  American  Civil  War  on  behalf  of  the 
Confederate  States,  and  on  his  return  Napoleon 
III  had  in  England  no  warmer  adherent  or 
more  respectful  friend. 

Mr.  Ward  Hunt  is  useful  in  contrast  with 
Mr.  Roebuck,  as  illustrating  the  difference 
between  an  ill-tempered  man  of  suspicious  mind 
and  only  average  intellectual  power,  and  one 
of  the  same  temperament  but  gifted  with  high 
ability.  Mr.  Ward  Hunt  is  undignified  in  his 
anger,  and,  what  is  worse,  is  sometimes,  as 
Mr.  Goschen  was  fain  to  declare  before  the 
House  of  Commons,  "  not  fair  in  his  statements 
—is  scarcely  ingenuous."  For  lack  of  ability 
to  conceive  arguments  he  indulges  in  invective, 
and  in  order  to  support  a  theory  he  will  para- 
phrase a  statement  of  fact.  He  is  like  "  the 
geographers  "  described  by  Swift,  who 

in  Afric  maps 

With  savage  pictures  fill  their  gaps  ; 
And  o'er  uninhabitable  downs 
Place  elephants  for  want  of  towns. 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

Mr.  Roebuck  is  able  to  dispense  with  such 
devices.  Whilst  he  is  ready  enough  to 
imagine  evil  things  of  his  political  adversaries, 
he  is  content  to  take  their  words  as  actually 
uttered  and  their  actions  as  reputably  reported, 
and  of  these  make  scorpions  for  their  backs. 
In  argument  his  style  is  clear  and  incisive,  and 
he  is  a  master  of  good,  simple  English,  which 
he  marshals  in  short,  crisp  sentences.  His 
voice,  now  so  low  that  it  scarcely  reaches  the 
Speaker's  chair,  was  once  full  and  clear.  As 
in  his  best  days  he  never  attempted  to  rise  to 
anything  approaching  florid  eloquence,  so  he 
rarely  varied  in  gesture  from  a  regularly  recur- 
ring darting  of  the  index  finger  at  the  hon. 
member  whom  he  chanced  to  be  attacking — an 
angry,  dictatorial  gesture,  which  Mr.  Disraeli, 
after  smarting  under  it  for  an  hour,  once  said 
reminded  him  of  "  the  tyrant  of  a  twopenny 
theatre."  Now  when  he  speaks  his  hands 
are  quietly  folded  before  him.  Only  at 
rare  intervals  does  the  right  hand  go  forth 
with  pointed  finger  to  trace  on  the  memories 
of  old  members  recollection  of  fierce  fights  in 
which  some  partook  who  to-day  live  only  as 
names  in  history. 


132 


CHAPTER   IV 
THE    TALKER 

Gratiano  speaks  an  infinite  deal  of  nothing,  more 
than  any  man  in  all  Venice.  His  reasons  are  as  two 
grains  of  wheat  hid  in  two  bushels  of  chaff ;  you  shall 
seek  all  day  ere  you  find  them,  and  when  you  have 
them  they  are  not  worth  the  search. 

The  Merchant  of  Venice. 

HAD  this  series  of  papers  been  written  a  year 
earlier  the  present  chapter  would,  in  all  proba- 
bility, have  proved  the  most  comprehensive  of 
the  eight.  In  the  late  Parliament  "  the  Talker  " 
was  by  far  the  most  prominent  and  the  most 
largely  represented  individual  type  in  the  House 
of  Commons.  This  was  owing  in  a  great 
measure,  as  has  been  hinted,  to  the  example 
set  by  the  Leader.  Mr.  Gladstone  not 
only  talked  frequently  himself  but  was  the 
cause  of  frequent  talking  in  others.  Mr. 

133 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

Disraeli,  on  the  contrary,  never  speaks  when 
a  speech  can  be  dispensed  with,  and  his 
personal  influence  is  so  paramount  that  whilst 
some  of  his  official  colleagues  were  known  in 
the  late  Parliament  as  amongst  the  most  weari- 
some Talkers  in  the  House,  they  are  now 
notable  for  the  brevity  with  which  they  make 
explanations,  answer  questions,  or  urge  argu- 
ments. Another  and  more  obvious  cause  is  the 
weeding  out  which  took  place  at  the  General 
Election.  The  issue  of  the  various  contests  cost 
the  House  the  presence,  amongst  others,  of  Mr. 
Rylands,  Mr.  Bouverie,  Mr.  Bernal  Osborne, 
Lord  Bury,  Mr.  R.  N.  Fowler,  Mr.  W.  Fowler, 
Dr.  Brewer,  and  Mr.  Hinde  Palmer,  gentlemen 
who  were  accustomed  to  fill  up  many  hours  in 
debate  to  their  own  supreme  satisfaction,  and 
to  the  casting  of  a  glow  of  delight  over  their 
respective  family  circles. 
Horace  testifies  that 

Vixere  fortes  ante  Agamemnona 
Multi  : 

and  there  have  been  some  since.  TJie  House 
of  Commons  still  has  its  Talkers.  As  long 
as  Sir  George  Balfour,  Mr.  Melly,  Sir  Eardley 
Wilmot,  Mr.  Charley,  Lord  Edmund  Fitz- 

134 


The  Talker 

maurice,  Mr.  Charles  Lewis,  and  Sir  George 
Jenkinson  are  spared  to  it,  repining  would  be 
unpardonable.  v,< 

Sir  George  Balfour  is,  comparatively,  a  young 
member,  having  obtained  his  seat  for  Kincar- 
dineshire  in  time  to  sit  throughout  the  Session: 
of  1873.  t  He  has  made  the  most  of  his 
opportunities.  Hansard  records  under  his 
name  a  collection  of  speeches  in  view  of  which 
one  does  not  know  whether  to  wonder  more  at 
the  largeness  of  the  number  or  the  diversity  of 
the  topics  treated.  The  gallant  knight's  descrip- 
tion of  his  political  views  communicated  to  the 
compiler  of  ]Dod  covers  only  a  small  tract  of 
the  ground  his  mind  dominates.  To  be  "  in 
favour  of  the  abolition  of  the  law  of  hypothec  in 
Scotland,  of  the  removal  of  hares  and  rabbits 
from  the  class  of  game,  and  of  tenants  being 
guaranteed  the  value  of  unexhausted  improve- 
ments," is  a  good  deal  for  a  single  human  mind 
to  grasp.  These  are  mere  indications  of 
odd  sections  of  the  range  of  Sir  George  Balfour's 
mind,  and  give  no  nearer  approximation  to  an 
idea  of  his  wealth  of  opinion  than  do  the  little 
bags  of  grain  the  corn  factor  carries  about  with 
him  enable  one  to  form  an  adequate  idea  of 
the  vast  extent  of  the  fields  wherefrom  the 
harvest  was  reaped.  Like  Dr.  Johnson's  Obser- 

135 


Men  and   Manner   in  Parliament 

vation,  Sir  George  is,  at  a  moment's  notice, 
prepared  "  with  extensive  view  "  to 

Survey  mankind  from  China  to  Peru. 

If,  however,  one  having  such  universal  know- 
ledge can  be  suspected  of  a  geographical  prefer- 
ence it  is  for  India,  where  Sir  George  won 
his  knightly  spurs  and  over  whose  affairs 
he  keeps  a  watchful  eye  in  Parliament. 
Albeit  a  constant  speaker,  speaking  evi- 
dently does  not  come  to  him,  as  reading  and 
writing  came  to  Dogberry,  by  nature.  Obvi- 
ously the  reverse  is  the  fact.  There  is  circum- 
stantial evidence  of  his  having  studied  and 
adopted  Lord  Chesterfield's  advice  to  his  son 
when  that  promising  young  man  was  about  to 
enter  Parliament.  "  Fix  these  three  truths 
strongly  in  your  mind,"  says  the  noble  Letter 
Writer,  himself  a  distinguished  Parliamentary 
orator :  "  First,  that  it  is  absolutely  necessary 
for  you  to  speak  in  Parliament ;  secondly,  that 
it  only  requires  a  little  human  attention  and 
no  supernatural  gifts ;  and  thirdly,  that  you 
have  all  the  reason  in  the  world  to  think  that 
you  shall  speak  well."  Sir  George  Balfour, 
having  set  this  or  some  similar  scheme  before 
him,  has  hitherto  relentlessly  and  manfully 

136 


The  Talker 

carried  it  out ;  but  he  has  not,  as  Lord 
Chesterfield  in  the  letter  quoted  from  con- 
fidently promised  his  correspondent  should  be 
the  case,  thereby  overcome  that  feeling  of 
"awe"  which  the  House  of  Commons  inspires 
in  the  unaccustomed  speaker.  For  some  time 
before  he  rises  to  speak  in  a  debate  he  moves 
about  in  his  seat  as  if  he  were  suffering  acute 
physical  pain.  When  he  has  screwed  his 
courage  up  to  the  point  .of  rising  he  hastily, 
and,  as  it  appears,  gratefully,  sits  down  again 
upon  the  slightest  evidence  of  some  other  candi- 
date having  been  selected  by  the  Speaker. 
With  dogged  courage  that  would  be  admirable 
in  another  cause  he  refuses  to;  permit  himself 
to  take  advantage  of  the  openings  the  House 
gladly  enough  affords  him  of  evading  the 
necessity  of  speaking,  and  generally  dashes  in 
desperately  before  the  debate  is  concluded. 

When  actually  speaking  his  face  wears  a 
sad,  weary,  beseeching,  pain -enduring  expres- 
sion very  curious  to  behold.  Its  effect  is 
heightened  by  an  uneasy,  restless  way  of  turning 
about  to  regard  his  audience  in  sections,  and 
by  the  thin,  highly  pitched  tone  in  which 
his  words  find  rapid  utterance.  Mr.  Lusk,  now 
Sir  Andrew,  used  to  enliven  the  midnight 
watches  of  the  House  with  singular  tones  of 

137 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

voice.  When  the  right  hon.  gentleman  is 
relieved  of  the  cares  of  Lord  Mayoralty  and 
returns  to  watch  the  estimates  through  Com- 
mittee he  will  find  in  this  sort  of  pre-eminence 
a  dangerous  rival  in  Sir  George  Balfour. 

Mr.  Melly  is  a  Talker  of  a  type  widely 
differing  from  the  hon.  and  gallant  member  for 
Kincardineshire.  Sir  George  Balfour  is  in 
mental  temperament  akin  to  Mr.  Crabbe,  the 
glazier  in  Mid  die  march,  who,  we  are  told, 
"  gathered  much  news  and  groped  among  it 
dimly."  Mr.  Melly,  whatever  may  be  the 
intrinsic  worth  of  his  news,  is  at  least  free  from 
the  reproach  of  groping  among  it  dimly.  His 
fault  lies  rather  on  the  other  side.  It  is 
dogmatism  that  is  responsible  for  his  unpopu- 
larity in  the  House.  Really  a  hard-working, 
intelligent,  useful  member,  he  is  always  im- 
patiently listened  to,  even  when,  as  in  the 
case  of  legislation  on  the  Licensing  Act  of 
1874,  he  was  the  first  to  assert  a  position 
the  House  eventually  adopted  as  its  own. 
This  is  a  hard  lot,  but  it  triumphantly 
vindicates  the  potency  of  manner.  Possibly 
when  Mr.  Melly  affords  evidence  that  he  has 
learned  to  think  a  little  less  of  himself  he  will 
find  the  House  thinking  a  little  more  of  him. 
At  present  he  is  one  of  an  obnoxious  class 

138 


The  Talker 

which  counts,  among  other  members,  Mr. 
Charley  and  Mr.  Charles  Lewis. 

Mr.  Charley,  it  must  be  admitted,  has  vastly 
toned  down  since  he  first  entered  Parliament, 
now  five  years  ago.  At  the  outset  he  was  simply 
irrepressible,  and  when  he  rose  to  speak  for 
the  third  time  in  a  sitting  was  hooted  down 
even  by  his  own  party,  who  are  marvellously 
tolerant  of  bores  if  they  only  vote  straight. 
When  he  was  not  speaking  he  was  pervading 
the  lobby,  or  was  seen  from  afar  up  in  the 
precincts  of  the  Press  Gallery  with  verbatim 
reports  of  his  last  speech  as  he  had  intended 
to  deliver  it,  and  which  he  vainly  hoped  might 
be  accepted  for  full  publication  in  the  journals 
of  the  following  morning.  A  busy,  fussy,  self- 
asserting  man,  whom  Salford,  if  it  would  not  be 
denied  its  preference,  had  better  have  made  its 
Town  Clerk  or  its  Chief  Constable  than  its 
member  of  Parliament. 

Mr.  Lewis  has  more  brains  than  Mr.  Melly, 
and  much  more  than  Mr.  Charley.  He  is  a 
fair  speaker — in  fact,  as  already  incidentally 
noted,  he  delivered  one  of  the  best  speeches 
which  appear  in  the  record  of  the  debate  in 
1873  on  the  Irish  University  Bill.  But  his 
progress  has  been  imperilled  by  the  souppon  of 
the  manner  of  a  police-court  attorney,  and  a 

139 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

tendency  to  thrust  his  unasked  counsel  on  the 
House.  It  was  characteristic  of  him  that  he, 
a  new  member,  should  in  the  -Session  of  1874 
have  brought  forward  a  motion  ostensibly 
designed  to  maintain  intact  the  purity  of  the 
House  of  Commons  by  opposing  the  issue  of  a 
new  writ  for  Stroud  till  the  character  of  the 
borough  had  been  considered  and  declared  free 
from  taint.  There  is  a  homely  saying  to 
the  effect  that  you  must  have  known  a  man 
seven  years  before  you  presume,  uninvited,  to 
poke  his  parlour  fire.  Young  members  of  the 
House  of  Commons  will  have  mastered  one 
great  secret — if  not  of  success,  at  least  of 
avoidance  of  failure — when  they  become  pos- 
sessed with  the  conviction  that  the  House 
will  not  brook  a  lecture  or  advice  from  a 
member  whose  face  and  figure  are  not  so 
familiar  that  they  seem  to  have  become  as 
much  a  portion  of  the  chamber  as  the  clock 
over  the  gangway  or  the  canopy  over  the 
Speaker's  chair.  Whether  the  advice  be  sound 
or  empty,  the  counsellor  eminent  or  obscure, 
does  not  matter.  Mr.  John  Stuart  Mill  and 
Mr.  Fawcett  when  they  first  entered  Parliament 
fell  into  the  besetting  sin  of  young  members. 
Their  repulse  was  scarcely  less  rudely  com- 
plete than  that  which  in  the  Session  of  1874 

140 


The  Talker 

covered  Mr.  Edward  Jenkins  with  confusion.  A 
man  may  do  or  say  pretty  much  as  he  pleases  in 
the  House  of  Commons  when  he  has  become 
"free  of  the  place."  Till  time  has  accom- 
plished that,  it  were  well  for  him1  to  be 
cautious  in  his  attempts  to  attract  notice. 

Most  of  the  Talkers  of  the  House  have  some 
speciality  which,  like  Melancholy  in  respect  of 
the  unknown  youth,  they  have  "  marked  for 
their  own."  Thus,  Sir  George  Jenkinson  has 
taken  turnpike  roads  under  his  especial  care, 
and  makes  long  and  tedious  excursions  down 
them  whenever  opportunity  offers.  No  one 
can  deny  that  we  could  not  do  without  our 
turnpikes.  Regarded  as  a  subject  of  fre- 
quent conversation  they  are  not  attractive,  and 
as  Sir  George  Jenkinson  endows  their  discus- 
sion with  no  extraneous  graces  of  oratory,  the 
House  flees  as  one  man  when  the  hon.  baronet 
rises,  with  spectacles  on  his  nose  and  a  por- 
tentous bundle  of  papers  in  his  hand. 

Mr.  Osborne  Morgan  has  charge  of  the  burial 
of  Dissenters,  and  possibly  the  topic  is  respon- 
sible for  the  peculiar  manner  of  his  speech. 
His  voice  rises  and  falls  with  that  distressing 
cadence  which  is  now,  with  happily  lessened 
frequency,  sometimes  heard  from  the  pulpit. 
One  listening  from  the  Strangers'  Gallery 

141 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

might  well  think  he  had  come  to  bury 
the  House  of  Commons,  not  to  convince  it. 
The  contraction  of  this  evil  habit  is  the  more 
to  be  deplored,  inasmuch  as  Mr.  Osborne 
Morgan  is  often  in  the  matter  of  his  speech  an 
effective  debater.  His  oration  in  the  Session 
of  1873  on  moving  the  second  reading  of 
the  Burials  Bill  was  exceedingly  clever,  occa- 
sionally brilliant,  and  if  it  had  been  delivered 
by  Mr.  Disraeli  would  have  made  a  great 
sensation.  But  there  is  something  irresistibly 
ludicrous  in  his  voice  and  manner,  and  when 
he  would  be  most  impressive  he  is  most  comical. 
In  Carlyle's  Life  of  John  Sterling,  there  is  a 
curiously  exact  description  of  Mr.  Osborne 
Morgan  addressing  the  House  of  Commons.  It 
originally  refers  to  Sterling  reading  aloud  his 
poem  of  the  "  Sexton's  Daughter,"  and  runs 
thus :  "A  dreary  pulpit  or  even  conventicle 
manner ;  that  flattest  moaning  hoo-hoo  of 
predetermined  pathos,  with  a  kind  of  rock- 
ing canter  introduced  by  way  of  intonation, 
each  stanza  the  exact  fellow  of  the  other,  and  the 
dull  swing  of  the  rocking-horse  duly  in  each." 

Mr.  Beresford  Hope,  who  looks  after  the 
interests  of  High  Art  and  High  Church,  has  a 
voice  of  the  peculiarities  of  which  an  adequate 
impression  could  be  given  only  by  the  introduc- 

142 


The  Talker 

tion  here  of  a  musical  stave  fantastically  scored. 
In  making  use  of  such  a  simple  and  recurrent 
phrase  as,  for  example,  "My,  hon.  friend  on 
the  other  side  of  the  House,"  he  goes 
through  a  series  of  the  most  extraordinary 
vocal  contortions  ever  heard.  When  he 
speaks  he  literally  "  collars  "  himself,  seizing 
with  either  hand  his  coat  collar  as  nearly 
as  possible  below  the  ears,  and  in  this  curious 
attitude  slowly,  as  he  talks,  turns  his  short, 
thick-set  figure  from  side  to  side—"  the  embodi- 
ment of  Batavian  grace,"  as  Mr.  Disraeli,  in 
one  of  his  happiest  phrases,  once  called  him. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  add  that  he  is  not 
a  pleasant  Talker,  but  his  speeches  are 
always  worth  reading,  being  lightened  up  by 
witty,  epigrammatic  sentences  and  by  the  great 
grace  of  culture.  His  discourse  is,  moreover, 
strongly  spiced  with  personalities,  and  breathes 
throughout  a  delicious  breath  of  pity  for  the 
common  herd  whose  views  on  the  Correggiosity 
of  Correggio  differ  from  his  own.  Like  Bram- 
ston's  "  Man  of  Taste,"  he  usually  winds  up  his 
remarks  with  an  intimation  that 

This  is  true  taste  ;  and  whoso  likes  it  not 
Is  blockhead,  coxcomb,  puppy,  fool,  and  sot. 

Only,    of   course,    the   member  for    Cambridge 

143 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

University  uses  nicer  language  than  the  lively 
clergyman  whom  Dodsley  rescued  from  oblivion. 

Thirty-four  years  ago  he  was  a  famous 
declaimer.  He  carried  off  the  prizes  which 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  offered  both  for 
Latin  and  for  English  declamation.  Prob- 
ably this  early  success  is  responsible  for 
the  fatal  faultiness  of  his  manner  to-day. 
Leaving  college  with  a  high  reputation  as  a 
declaimer,  he  has  gradually  and  unconsciously 
exaggerated  the  little  tricks  of  voice  and  manner 
which  comprise  school  declamation  till  they  have 
grown  into  monstrosities  and  are  no  more 
removable  at  the  will  of  the  unfortunate  prize- 
man than  was  the  Old  Man  of  the  Sea  whom, 
"  with  a  light  heart,"  Sinbad  the  Sailor  hoisted 
on  his  shoulders. 

Something  of  the  growth  of  evil  habit 
in  this  direction  may  be  seen  in  actual 
progress  in  the  case  of  Colonel  Barttelot. 
So  recently  as  the  commencement  of  the 
Session  of  1873,  the  member  for  West  Sussex 
was,  for  an  ex -captain  of  dragoons,  a  very 
fair  speaker.  As  an  exponent  of  the  views 
of  country  gentlemen  of  a  certain  range  of 
intelligence  and  possessing  a  given  number  of 
votes  he  was  listened  to  with  attention. 
This  moderate  measure  of  success  turned  his 

144 


The  Talker 

head.  There  was  too  much  reason  to  fear  that 
whilst  other  members  of  Parliament  were  taking 
advantage  of  the  recess  to  recruit  their  wasted 
energies,  Colonel  Barttelot,  scorning  delights, 
was  living  laborious  days  in  the  companionship 
of  one  of  those  professors  of  elocution  whose 
advertisements  occasionally  appear  in  the  news- 
papers. However  it  be,  it  is  certain  that  when 
the  honourable  and  gallant  member  returned  to 
Parliament  in  1874,  me  tendency  to  "  impres- 
siveness  "  of  speech,  the  growth  of  which  had 
towards  the  close  of  last  Session  alarmed  his 
best  friends,  had  developed  in  singular 
degree  of  perfection.  To-day  he  is,  perhaps, 
one  of  the  most  impressive  speakers  in 
the  Hiouse  of  Commons,  and  it  is  a  pity  he 
has  so  little  to  say  that  is  worth  hearing.  He 
chops  his  sentences  up  into  regular  spaces, 
advancing  from  section  to  section  with  solemn 
cadence  and  provoking  deliberation,  presenting 
a  spectacle  painful  for  the  beholding  of  kind- 
hearted  persons  who  have  read  ^Esop's  Fables 
and  remember  the  fate  that  befell  the  frog  who 
tried  to  swell  himself  out  to  the  dimensions  of 
an  ox. 

If  Mr.  Henley  had  no  other  claim  to  nota- 
bility in  the  ranks  of  members  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  he  would  have  that  which  pertains 

145  K 


Men   and  Manner  in  Parliament 

to  one  who  has  with  his  own  eyes  witnessed 
the  occurrence  of  events  which  are  matters  of 
history  to  the  present  generation.  Born  in 
the  eventful  year  when  '  President  Vergniaud 
with  a  voice  full  of  sorrow  had  to  say,  '  I 
declare  in  the  name  of  the  Convention  that 
the  punishment  it  pronounces  on  Louis  Capet 
is  that  of  death/  "  Mr.  Henley  took  his  degree 
at  Oxford  in  the  year  when  Waterloo  brought 
back  the  Monarchy  to  France,  and  entered 
Parliament  with  the  tide  of  Conservative  reaction 
which,  in  1841,  landed  Sir  Robert  Peel  high 
and  dry  on  the  Treasury  Bench.  He  was  thus 
in  the  later  prime  of  life  when  he  first  entered 
the  House  of  Commons,  and  was  getting  old 
when,  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  he 
was  Vice-President  of  the  Board  of  Trade. 
To-day  he  is  past  fourscore,  but  he  has  not 
slackened  one  whit  of  the  regularity  of  his 
attendance  at  the  House,  or  denied  himself  a 
quarter  of  an  hour's  talking  in  a  week.  He 
invariably  has  a  few  plain,  practical,  common- 
sense  observations  to  make  on  the  main  ques- 
tions that  come  before  the  House,  and  is  always 
listened  to  with  the  profound  respect  that  his 
age  and  experience  extort. 

Mr.    Dodson    is    another   hon.    member    who 
never     fails     to     obtain    a     respectful     hearing 

146 


The  Talker 

when  he  presents  himself,  which  has  been 
of  late  a  matter  of ,  increasingly  frequent 
occurrence.  This  respectful  attention  is  chiefly 
a  matter  of  habit,  for  Mr.  Dodson  was 
for  the  seven  years  ending  1872  Chairman  of 
Committees,  and  was  by  common  consent  held 
to  have  borne  himself  admirably  in  that  impor- 
tant office.  But  the  qualities  which  go  to 
make  a  good  Chairman  of  Committees  are 
not  calculated  to  ensure  success  in  a  debater, 
and  the  rule  holds  good  with  peculiar  force 
in  Mr.  Dodson's  case.  A  cold,  formal  manner, 
a  dry  voice,  a  level  flow  of  speech,  and  a  pain- 
fully practical  turn  of  mind,  whilst  making 
his  intervention  sometimes  useful,  do  not 
endear  him  to  his  audience.  Since  the  departure 
of  Mr.  Bouverie  and  Sir  George  Grey,  he 
has  become  one  of  the  highest  authori- 
ties on  questions  of  order,  and  is  not  slow  in 
asserting  his  position  as  occasions  offer  them- 
selves. 

Mr.  Monk  is  another  gentleman  who  culti- 
vates a  cold  and  formal  style  of  speech ; 
but  the  member  for  Gloucester  has  no  Parlia- 
mentary reputation  to  support  his  manner,  and 
it  is  consequently  insupportable.  He  is  in- 
variably dressed  like  Mr.  Dombey  on  the 
morning  he  condescended  to  marriage  for  the 

147 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

second  time,  and  has,  in  fact,  many  other  per- 
sonal peculiarities  which  remind  the  observer 
of  that  awe-inspiring  and  uncomfortable  per- 
sonage. 

Mr.  Jenkins  is  a  recent  recruit  to  the  ranks 
of  the  Talkers,  and  has  lost  no  time  in  letting 
the  House  know  that  he  was  there.  Like  Mr. 
Trevelyan,  the  member  for  Dundee  took  his 
seat  in  Parliament  with  the  reputation  of 
having  written  a  successful  book — a  very 
dangerous  introduction  for  a  young  member, 
as,  indeed,  is  the  reputation  of  having  made  a 
noise  in  the  outside  world,  in  whatever  form 
the  distinction  may  have  been  gained.  A 
nervous  man  can  enter  an  empty  drawing- 
room  with  perfect  self-possession,  and  if  he  is 
certain  that  his  entrance  will  be  utterly  dis- 
regarded he  can  walk  into  the  room  even 
when  crowded  without  absolutely  trembling. 
But  when  one  enters  whose  name  and  achieve- 
ments are  familiar  to  every  person  in  the 
room,  and  who  knows  that  there  is  a  strong 
feeling  of  curiosity  to  see  him,  and  a  deli- 
berate intention  to  watch  his  behaviour  under 
novel  circumstances,  the  ordeal  is  a  trying  one 
under  which  the  strongest  nerves  may  be  for- 
given if  they  fail.  There  are,  of  course,  men 
who  under  such  circumstances  would  bear 

148 


The  Talker 

themselves  with  a  perfect  manner ;  but  the 
great  majority  of  mankind  may,  viewed  in 
this  light,  be  broadly  divided  into  two  classes 
—one  who  would  take  an  early  opportunity  of 
subsiding  into  a  corner,  and  another  who,  mis- 
taking bluster  for  self-possession,  and  inassail- 
able  self-conceit  for  the  hard  polish  of  good 
breeding,  would  saunter  down  the  room  with 
brazen  front  and  accept  the  stare  of  curiosity 
as  a  homage  paid  to  greatness.  The  author  of 
Ginx's  Baby  is  of  this  latter  class,  and  is  con- 
sequently a  man  predestined  to  fail  in  gaining 
the  ear  of  an  assembly  a  mercilessly  exact  critic 
of  manner. 

Mr.  Jenkins  obviously  entered  the  House  of 
Commons  prepared  to  take  it  by  storm.  The 
annals  of  Parliament  do  not  record  a  more  abso- 
lute or  hopeless  failure  than  the  attempt  made 
in  the  speech  in  which  he  formally  presented 
himself  as  the  coming  Great  Power.  "  I  con- 
fess," writes  Lord  Chesterfield,  "  I  cannot  help 
forming  some  opinion  of  a  man's  sense  and 
character  from  his  dress,  and  I  believe  most 
people  do,  as  well  as  myself.  Any  affectation 
whatsoever  in  dress  implies  in  my  mind  a  flaw 
in  the  understanding."  A  man  who  presents 
himself  to  the  House  of  Commons  at  ten  o'clock 
at  night  arrayed  in  a  flaming  red  necktie,  white 

149 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

waistcoat,  and  light  trousers  with  a  stripe 
down  the  side  cannot  fairly  hope  to  be  let  off 
with  the  gentle  censure  implied  in  the  use  of 
the  term  "  affectation."  Odd  fashions  in  dress 
abound  in  the  House.  Mr.  Forster  dresses 
like  a  market  gardener  out  for  a  Sunday  walk  ; 
Mr.  Henley's  face  peers  through  a  pair  of 
gigantic  shirt  collars  that  would  move  to  envy 
the  ultimate  men  in  a  crescent  of  negro 
minstrels  ;  Colonel  Taylor's  clothes  were  obvi- 
ously made  for  somebody  else  ;  and  Sir  Colman 
O'Loghlen  delights  in  the  possession  of  a  peren- 
nial pair  of  trousers  which,  unstitched,  would, 
as  far  as  quantity  of  cloth  goes,  serve  admirably 
as  the  mainsail  of  a  schooner.  These  are  eccen- 
tricities which  excite  a  smile.  The  big  red  neck- 
tie and  the  white  waistcoat  are  entires  choses, 
and  there  is  too  much  reason  to  fear  that  they 
are  the  results,  not  of  "  a  flaw  in  the  understand- 
ing," but  of  constitutional  vulgarity  of  mind. 

At  any  rate  this  theory  receives  support 
from  Mr.  Jenkins's  manner  in  delivering  his 
speech  on  the  Occupation  of  the  Gold  Coast. 
His  atrocious  taste  in  dress  might  have  been 
condoned  by  modesty  of  mien.  But  the  hon. 
member's  manner  was  as  "  loud "  and  as 
aggressive  as  his  attire.  His  easy  way  of 
resting  his  right  hand  in  his  trouser  pocket, 

150 


The  Talker 

whence  it  occasionally  emerged  to  indulge  in 
a  half  contemptuous,  half  threatening  gesture 
for  persons  who  had  the  misfortune  to  differ 
from  him ;  his  lofty  contempt  for  the  present 
Government ;  his  patronizing  way  of  referring 
to  members  of  the  late  Ministry  ;  his  iteration 
of  "I  advise  the  right  hon.  gentleman "  ;  his 
repetition  of  the  tragical  declaration,  '  I  am 
here  to  warn  this  House  "  ;  his  perpetual  "  It 
seems  to  me  "  ;  his  ever  ready  "My  opinion 
is  "  ;  and,  in  brief,  his  sublime  egotism,  amused 
the  House  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  After 
that  signs  of  disgust  began  to  manifest  them- 
selves, and  Mr.  Jenkins,  growing  increasingly 
insufferable,  finally  sat  down  amid  a  storm  of 
disapprobation  altogether  unprecedented  in  the 
case  of  a  member  making  his  maiden  speech. 

There  was  no  need  to  go  far  afield  in  search 
of  the  cause  for  the  general  unpopularity  of  Lord 
Elcho  whilst  yet  his  lordship  was  a  prominent 
figure  in  the  House.  In  Ben  Jonson's  play  of 
'  The  Fox,"  Mosca  tells  the  duped  Voltore  how 
his  master  had  often  expressed  his  admiration  for 

Men  of  your  large  profession  that  could  speak 
To  every  cause. 

The  House  of  Commons'  preference  lies  in  the 
channel  directly  opposite  to  that  assigned  to 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

the  scheming  Volpone.  Its  special  aversion  is 
retained  for  men  who  are  ready  to  speak  with 
confidence  and  authority  on  all  possible  occa- 
sions and  on  every  conceivable  subject.  This 
is  the  secret  of  its  objection  to  Sir  Thomas 
Chambers,  though,  to  do  the  Common  Serjeant 
justice,  he  scarcely  merits  the  contumely  with 
which  his  rising  is  ever  greeted.  He  invariably 
has  some  fresh  light  to  throw  on  the  subject 
about  which  he  discourses,  or  some  flaw  in  the 
argument  of  preceding  speakers  to  expose,  and 
he  has  a  good  colloquial  style  of  speaking. 
But  the  House  resents  his  too  frequent  inter- 
ference and,  above  all,  kicks  against  his 
manner  of  constantly  and  dictatorially  beating 
his  right  hand  against  the  palm  of  his  left 
and  revolving  the  while  on  a  semicircular 
range,  so  that  the  whole  of  his  audience  except 
the  unfortunate  section  sitting  directly  behind 
his  back  should  have  the  benefit  of  his  em- 
phatic advice.  Lord  Elcho  was  infinitely  more 
self -asserting  than  Sir  Thomas  Chambers,  and 
as  a  rule  was  considerably  less  well  informed 
on  the  subjects  on  which  he  undertook  to 
instruct  the  House.  Mr.  Julian  Goldsmid 
might  aspire  to  the  position  vacated  by  the 
hon.  member  for  Haddingtonshire  if  he  were  a 
lord  and  heir-presumptive  to  an  earldom.  But 

152 


The  Talker 

he  is  only  a  Fellow  of  a  middle-class  college, 
and  whilst  he  has  a  good  deal  of  the  priggish- 
ness  which  sometimes  pertains  to  a  professor, 
he  has  none  of  that  indefinable  air  of  good 
breeding  often  to  be  found  in  the  son  of  a 
peer. 

That  good  breeding,  in  the  common  accepta- 
tion of  the  term,  is,  happily,  not  needed  to  re- 
commend a  speaker  to  the  House  of  Commons 
is  proved  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Burt,  the  miners' 
member  for  Morpeth.  Mr.  Burt  has,  he 
himself  proclaims,  worked  as  a  miner  in  Chop- 
pington  Colliery.  He  looks  like  what  he  is, 
and  speaks  with  the  most  remarkable  accent 
ever  heard  within  the  walls  of  the  House  of 
Commons.  But  he  bears  himself  modestly, 
shows  a  perfect  command  of  the  subject  he 
discusses,  and  is  short  and  pithy  in  his  treat- 
ment of  it.  Mr.  Davies,  the  member  for 
Cardigan,  began  life  as  a  sawyer,  and  when  he 
rises  to  address  the  House  of  Commons  his 
appearance  suggests  that  he  has  called  in  from 
the  pit  to  have  a  chat  after  finishing  a  job. 
He  had  a  genuine  success  on  the  occasion  of 
his  maiden  speech,  in  which  he  took  the  House 
by  storm  by  declaring,  in  a  comical  Welsh 
accent,  that  he  was  a  working  man  himself, 
though  he  now  employed  men  by  the  hundred 

153 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

and  paid  fortnightly  wages  by  thousands  of 
pounds.  He  has  a  good  deal  of  rough-and- 
ready  humour,  and  calls  a  spade  a  spade,  to 
the  great  relish  of  a  blase  assembly  long 
accustomed  to  hear  it  referred  to  as  an  agri- 
cultural implement.  He  has  of  late  shown 
a  tendency  to  spoil  his  early  success  by  repeti- 
tion ad  nauseam  of  the  circumstance  that  he  has 
"  been  a  working  man  himself,"  and  by  too  fre- 
quent interposition  in  debate. 

No  one  can  complain  that  Mr.  Macdonald,  the 
second  professional  "  working  man's  candidate," 
is  tiresome  in  his  reminders  of  his  earlier  status. 
:He  is  secretary  of  the  Miners'  Association  for 
Scotland  and  president  of  the  Miners'  National 
Association  if  you  please  ;  but  not  a  working 
man.  Mr.  Davies  speaks  from  the  back  bench 
below  the  gangway.  Mr.  Burt  is  lost  in  the 
obscurity  of  the  seats  usually  filled  by  the 
rank  and  file  of  Irish  members.  No  posi- 
tion less  prominent  than  the  front  seat  below 
the  gangway,  no  companionship  less  dis- 
tinguished than  that  of  Mr.  Fawcett,  Sir 
Charles  Dilke,  Lord  Edmund  Fitzmaurice,  and 
Mr.  Roebuck  will  suit  Mr.  Macdonald.  As 
he  stands  fully  a  pace  forward  on  the  floor  of 
the  House,  with  right  hand  on  hip,  buff- 
coloured  waistcoat  fully  displayed,  and  a 

154 


The  Talker 

respectable -looking  slip  of  paper  lightly  held  in 
his  left  hand,  one  might,  without  incurring  just 
rebuke  for  the  error,  take  him  for  a  prosperous 
pastrycook  or  even  a  luxurious  linendraper. 
His  discourse  would  foster  the  illusion,  having 
in  it  no  more  of  the  pith  and  marrow  of 
Mr.  Hurt's  simple  speech  than  his  voice  has 
of  the  Northumbrian  miner's  deep  burr,  or  his 
manner  of  that  winningness  which  is  born  not 
so  much  from  the  sort  of  feeling  that  animated 
the  rhetorical  yeoman, 

Too  proud  to  care  from  whence  he  came, 

as  from  the  unconsciously  expressed  conviction 
that  after  all  the  thing  is  not  what  the  father 
was  or  what  the  youth  may  have  been,  but  what 
the  man  is. 

Lord  Edmund  George  Petty-Fitzmaurice  is  a 
distinguished  member  of  a  modern  Young  Eng- 
land party,  of  which  Mr.  George  Otto  Trevelyan 
is  the  remaining  portion,  and  on  whose  skirts 
Mr.  Julian  Goldsmid  hangs  with  the  hope  of 
being  some  day  admitted  to  the  full  rights  and 
honours  of  membership.  Young,  bold,  enthusi- 
astic, deeply  versed  in  everything,  contemptuous 
of  their  elders,  confident  in  themselves,  they  are 
ever  ready  with  advice  in  critical  moments,  and 
if  the  nation  would  only  listen  to  them  there 

155 


Men  and    Manner  in  Parliament 

would  be  not  only  no  more  sin  or  sorrow  or 
suffering  in  the  world,  but  no  men  in  the  Cabinet 
whose  age  exceeded  thirty  years.  But  England 
is  not  the  Capitol  that  Lord  Edmund  Fitz- 
maurice,  Mr.  G.  O.  Trevelyan,  and  Mr.  Julian 
Goldsmid  should  save  it.  It  must  further  be 
admitted  to  the  disadvantage  of  "  the  Party," 
that  their  failings  as  Parliamentary  speakers  are 
not  confined  to  the  sin  of  lack  of  ability  to 
move  by  eloquence.  There  are  certain  sins  of 
commission  perhaps  most  strongly  marked  in 
the  vulgarly  insolent  and  self-sufficient  manner 
of  Mr.  Goldsmid,  but  from  which  the 
other  two  are  not  free.  In  addition  to  a 
pert  and  jerky  manner  possessed  in  common 
with  Mr.  Trevelyan,  Lord  Edmund  Fitz- 
maurice  has  certain  special  peculiarities  which 
bar  his  advance  to  the  position  of  first 
favourite  of  the  House.  When  he  rises  to 
speak  he  takes  hold  of  himself  with  the  left 
hand  by  the  lappet  of  his  coat,  his  right  hand 
and  arm  hanging  down  in  a  limp  condition  by 
his  side,  except  when  occasionally  raised  to 
enforce  an  argument  by  a  shake  of  the  fore- 
finger. Throughout  the  full  length  of  his 
discourse  his  body  is  moving  from  left  to 
right  and  from  right  to  left  on  the  arc  of  a 
small  circle,  his  feet  alternately  rising  and 

156 


The  Talker 

falling  as  if  the  floor  were  hot,  or  he  were 
"  beating  time."  His  voice  is  highly  pitched, 
and  is  so  sustained  throughout,  being  delivered 
in  a  rapid  sing-song  tone,  as  if  he  were 
repeating  a  lesson  he  was  chiefly  concerned 
to  get  reeled  off  and  so  done  with. 
Pour  comble  de  bonheur  for  his  audience  the 
noble  lord  talks  through  his  teeth,  and  has  a 
curious  way  of  throwing  back  his  head  and 
shutting  his  eyes,  which  proves  a  strong  tempta- 
tion to  mischievous  members  to  get  up,  leave 
the  House  silently,  and  surprise  the  orator  when, 
having  finished  what  he  has  to  say,  he  unlocks 
his  teeth,  opens  his  eyes  and  finds  -the  chamber 
empty.  History  is  Lord  Edmund's  great  forte. 
To  hear  him  discuss  current  events  by  the 
light  of  history  ancient  and  modern  is  irresistibly 
to  suggest  a  prize  lecture  by  a  smart  boy  who 
has  given  up  his  days  and  nights  to  the  study 
of  MangnalVs  Questions. 

There  are  few  figures  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons more  familiar,  or,  on  the  whole,  regarded 
with  kindlier  feeling,  than  that  which  rises 
from  the  corner  seat  on  the  fourth  bench  below 
the  gangway  on  the  Conservative  side  when- 
ever the  Pope  or  the  simulacrum  of  his  Holi- 
ness pops  out  from  any  other  quarter.  Mr. 
Newdegate  is  the  Jeremiah  of  the  House  of 

157 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

Commons.  The  character  is  not  in  itself 
a  lively  one,  but  the  hon.  gentleman  has  by 
the  charm  of  genuineness  of  character  and 
imperturbable  evenness  of  temper  made  it  not 
only  bearable  but  popular.  The  House  some- 
times plays  tricks  with  him,  occasionally 
greeting  his  rising  with  a  prolonged  groan, 
and  anon,  when  by  patience  and  persever- 
ance he  has  succeeded  in  getting  on  his 
perennial  motion  for  the  appointment  of  a 
Royal  Commission  to  look  after  the  convents, 
counting  him  out.  A  feeling  of  remorse, 
such  as  that  which  prostrated  the  schoolboys 
at  the  establishment  Charles  Dickens  knew  of 
after  they  had  successfully  carried  out  a  fresh 
persecution  of  "  Old  Cheeseman,"  comes  over 
members  when  the  thing  is  done,  and  there  is  a 
hollowness  in  the  laughter  which  betokens  a 
heart  ill  at  ease  with  itself. 

Mr.  Newdegate's  face  and  figure,  when  he 
rises  to  address  the  House,  more  especially 
on  his  annual  field  night,  are  eloquent  of 
woe,  a  woe  long  and  uncomplainingly  borne 
and  from  which  there  is  no  present  pros- 
pect of  relief.  In  deep,  sad,  slowly  uttered 
tones,  sinking  to  an  awful  and  at  times  inau- 
'dible  whisper  as  he  reaches  the  climax  of 
some  thrice -told  tale  of  priestly  perfidy  or 

158 


The  Talker 

Popish  plotting,  he  delivers  himself  of  his 
lamentation  and  resumes  his  seat,  to  listen 
with  stern,  gruesome  visage  to  the  light  talk 
of  the  thoughtless  jester,  or  the  angry 
recriminations  of  men  who  he  well  knows  are 
emissaries  of  the  Pope  returned  to  Parliament 
by  priest-ridden  constituencies  with  the  special 
mission  of  thwarting  him. 

It  is  the  finishing  touch  to  the  little  comedy 
that  on  the  other  side  of  the  House  sits  Mr. 
Whalley,  primed  with  equal  zeal  for  the  only  true 
religion,  and  equally  ready  to  spy  Popish  beards 
under  Protestant  mufflers.  In  times  gone  by, 
moved  by  the  consciousness  of  a  common 
cause,  he  was  wont  to  hold  out  across  the 
floor  of  the  House  the  right  hand  of  fellowship 
to  Mr.  Newdegate.  But  the  member  for  North 
Warwickshire  would 

Bear  like  the  Turk  no  brother  near  the  throne, 

and  haughtily  rejected  the  advances.  In  fact, 
he  once  confided  to  the  House  his  suspicion 
that  Mr.  Whalley  was  a  Jesuit  in  disguise, 
since  which  declaration  of  open  war  the  twin 
champions  of  Protestantism  have,  to  the  exqui- 
site delight  of  the  House,  studiously  avoided 
reference  to  each  other,  or  even  indication  of 
consciousness  of  the  other's  existence.  Up  to 

159 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

the  period  when  he  became  an  absolute  nuisance 
in  connection  with  the  Tichborne  case,  Mr. 
Whalley  was,  like  Mr.  Newdegate,  though  in 
a  less  degree,  gladly  suffered  for  the  sake  of 
his  manful  advocacy,  for  what  he  deemed 
truth's  sake,  of  unpopular  views.  "  Sir,"  said 
Dr.  Johnson  to  Bozzy,  when  that  charming 
personage  was  hinting  that  it  did  not  become 
him  in  the  presence  of  a  great  luminary  to 
aspire  to  too  much  wisdom,  "  Sir,  be  as  wise  as 
you  can."  Mr.  Whalley  is  as  wise  as  he  can  be, 
and  for  the  rest,  even  in  a  controversy  in  which 
accusations  of  fraudulent  motive  have  been 
sown  broadcast,  no  one  who  has  any  knowledge 
of  the  member  for  Peterborough  has  for  a 
moment  doubted  the  honesty  of  his  intentions. 
If  he  had  been  blessed  with  a  better  balanced 
brain  he  might  have  made  a  figure  in  Parlia- 
ment, for  he  is  a  clear,  fluent  speaker,  and  has 
sometimes  risen  to  the  pitch  of  eloquence.  He 
has  woefully  missed  his  mark,  and  to-day  he 
stands  up  in  Parliament  grey-headed  before  his 
time ;  of  late,  with  something  of  a  broken- 
hearted look  about  him  that  partially  hushes 
the  angry  cry  with  which  his  increasingly  rare 
appearances  are  greeted. 


160 


CHAPTER   V 
THE    IRISH    MEMBER 

Ours  is  no  quarrel  that  will  not  be  ended, 

Ours  are  not  hearts  to  hate  on  to  the  last, 
The  foe  still  devoted,  the  foe  still  intended, 

To  him,  and  him  only,  our  challenge  we  cast. 
And  him — even  him — let  him  now  but  awake 

To  the  love  he  should  own  for  our  desolate  land, 
And  his  hand  we  will  take, 
And  his  hand  we  will  shake, 
Though  the  blood  of  her  children  be  fresh  on  that  hand. 

Irish  Song. 

EVER  since,  upon  the  consummation  of  the  Act 
of  Union,  the  Irish  members  took  their  seats  in 
the  British  House  of  Commons,  they  have  suc- 
ceeded in  occupying  a  prominent  position  which 
neither  their  numbers  nor  their  special  ability 
as  legislators  appears  to  justify.  If  search  be 
made  through  the  records  of  Parliament  during 
the  last  seventy  years  it  will  be  found  that  more 
Ministerial  crises  have  arisen  upon  questions 
affecting  Ireland  than  upon  any  other  five  sub- 

161  L 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

jects  put  together.  Further,  there  were  times 
during  his  political  career  when  O'Connell  was 
the  arbiter  of  the  destinies  of  the  Empire  as 
far  as  they  might  be  affected  by  some  particular 
Bill  introduced  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
though  no  one  succeeding  to  the  Parliamentary 
'office  of  the  Liberator  has  inherited  his  auto- 
cratic power,  such  arbitrament  has  on  several 
subsequent  occasions  been  vested  in  the  Irish 
members.  For  fifty  years  their  vote  has,  from 
time  to  time,  been  a  matter  of  prime  impor- 
tance to  Ministries,  and  if  the  story  of  the 
negotiations  for  securing  it  which  have  secretly 
taken  place  during  the  half  century  might  be 
written,  it  would  add  a  curious,  perhaps  a 
startling,  chapter  to  our  Parliamentary  history. 
In  no  House  of  Commons  has  the  pro- 
minence of  the  Irish  member  been  more 
marked  than  in  that  elected  in  the  spring  of 
1874.  The  cause  and  the  cry  of  Repeal  were, 
if  not  actually  proscribed  by  law,  rebellious  in 
their  tendency,  and  were  avoided  by  large 
numbers  of  Irishmen  who,  cherishing  the  tra- 
ditional hatred  of  English  Government,  were 
not  ready  to  go  the  full  length  of  demanding 
separation  from  the  British  Empire.  In  an 
inspired  moment  some  one  invented  the  phrase 
"  Home  Rule,"  and  the  power  of  the  "  patriotic 

162 


The  Irish  Member 

party  "  was  instantly  doubled.  Thousands  who 
would  protest  against  Repeal,  could  vote  for 
:Home  Rule,  and  so  gratify  the  national  passion 
for  being  in  opposition,  a  passion  forcibly  illus- 
trated by  the  case  of  the  Irish  emigrant  who, 
landing  on  the  shores  of  America  during  the 
height  of  a  Presidential  election,  was  asked 
what  his  politics  were.  He  replied  that  beingj 
strange  to  the  country  he  had  hardly  had  time 
to  determine  them ;  anyhow,  he  was  "  agin 
the  Government."  With  a  good  wholesome 
cry,  suggesting  of  itself  the  luxury  of  a  reason 
for  being  "  agin  the  Government,"  Ireland, 
at  the  last  election,  sent  to  Parliament  a 
phalanx  of  fifty  men,  pledged  to  struggle 
for  Home  Rule,  and  bound  to  subordinate 
to  its  interests  the  natural  ties  of  politics  and 
party.  Under  a  Government  numerically  so 
strong  as  that  of  Mr.  Disraeli  the  influence  of 
this  new  party  has  not  yet  been  fully  felt,  though 
its  power  was  to  some  extent  indicated  by  the 
state  of  the  division  lists  in  the  debate  on. 
the  Endowed  Schools  Act  Amendment  Bill. 
As  we  know,  the  lesson  having  recently  been 
taught  anew,  great  majorities  have  an  inherent 
tendency  towards  decay,  and  there  will  come 
a  time  when  the  party  which  Sir  John  Astley 
(delicately  indicated  by  the  term  "  those  Irish 

163 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

rascals  "  will  hold  an  all -important  position  on 
the  eve  of  great  party  divisions,  and  may  at 
some  momentous  epoch  control  the  destinies  of 
the  Empire. 

Mr.  Butt  is  the  nominal  leader  of  the  party 
of  which  Mr.  O'Shaughnessy  is  the  Whip,  and 
in  which  all  the  privates  are  commissioned 
officers.  The  hon.  and  learned  member  for 
Limerick  re-entered  Parliament  with  a  reputa- 
tion for  eloquence  which,  to  do  him  justice,  he 
has  never  made  good.  One  Wednesday  after- 
noon in  the  Session  of  1872,  there  was  quite  a 
sensation  in  anticipation  of  a  great  speech 
from  Mr.  Butt,  who  was  about  to  make  his 
reappearance  in  Parliament  after  an  absence  of 
seven  years.  The  House  was  crowded ;  the 
galleries  were  filled ;  expectation  was  on  tiptoe, 
and  the  final  disappointment  was  correspond- 
ingly great.  Of  course  it  is  not  his 
fault,  but  even  his  personal  appearance  does  not 
satisfy  the  expectation  of  the  Sassenach  who  has 
heard  of  his  terrible  doings  in  Ireland.  Charged 
with  a  mission  of  weightiest  import,  spokes- 
man for  a  down -trodden  country. 

Where  they're  hanging  men  and  women 
For  the  wearing  of  the  Green, 

Mr.   Butt  presents  to  the   House  of   Commons 

164 


The  Irish  Member 

the  face  and  figure  of  a  perennial  youth  accus- 
tomed to  eat  and  drink  well  from  his 
cradle  days,  free  from  cares  save  such  as 
might  arise  in  the  playground.  Caesar's  dis- 
ciples in  physiology  would  be  inclined  to  look 
rather  to  Mr.  M'Carthy  Downing  than  to  Mr. 
Butt  as  the  leader  of  a  schism  against  the  State. 

Yond'  Cassius  has  a  lean  and  hungry  look, 
He  thinks  too  much  ;  such  men  are  dangerous. 

Mr.  Butt,  on  the  contrary,  is  fat,  sleek-headed, 
and  looks  as  if  he  sleeps  o'  nights — which 
indeed  he  sometimes  does  in  full  view  of  the 
House,  occasionally  waking  up,  roused  from 
his  post-prandial  nap  by  the  trumpet  tones  of 
Mr.  Synan  or  the  softer  voice  of  Mr.  Mitchell 
Henry,  and  interposing  a  vigorous  but  incon- 
sequential "  Hear  !  hear  !  hear,  I  hear  !  " 

He  is  credited  with  many  brilliant  successes 
when  appealing  to  an  Irish  jury  for  prisoners 
at  the  bar.  His  nearest  approach  to  an 
oratorical  success  in  the  House  of  Commons  is 
to  be  found  in  his  speech  in  the  Home  Rule 
debate  in  the  Session  of  1874,  when  he 
undoubtedly  made  the  most  of  a  hopeless  case, 
winning  the  approval  of  the  House  by  his 
tact,  judgment,  and  moderation.  On  the 
whole,  and  of  course  regarding  him  solely  as  a 

165 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

Parliamentary  speaker,  he  does  not  rise  above 
the  average,  and  falls  far  short  of  the  natural 
excellence  of  Mr.  A.  M.  Sullivan,  Mr.  O'Connor 
Power,  the  O'Donoghue,  and  Mr.  Plunket. 

Mr.  Sullivan  I  hold  to  be,  take  him  all  in 
all,  the  most  effective  speaker  amongst  the 
Irish  members.  His  words  are  well  chosen, 
his  sentences  easily  and  naturally  grouped,  and 
his  mind  is  aflame  with  imagination.  It  is 
easy  to  conceive  how,  speaking  to  a  mass 
meeting  of  his  countrymen,  this  nervous,  pas- 
sionate, finely  strung  man,  whose  lips  have 
been  touched  by  the  heaven -born  fire  of 
oratory,  would  sway  the  souls  of  the  people  to 
the  measure  of  "  the  bold  anthem  of  Erin-go- 
Bragh."  But  the  House  of  Commons  is  not 
a  Dublin  mass  meeting.  It  is  a  body  of  prac- 
tical business-like  men,  who  laugh  at  Erin-go- 
Bragh  and  hold  with  Sydney  Smith  that  a 
far  better  anthem  would  be  "  Erin -go  bread 
and  cheese,  Erin -go  cabins  that  keep  out  the 
rain,  Erin-go  pantaloons  without  holes  in 
them."  When  Mr.  Sullivan  has  mastered  this 
idea,  and  the  progress  he  has  made  in  the 
brief  term  of  his  membership  shows  that  he 
is  quite  capable  of  doing  it,  he  will  be  a 
power  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  will  have 
the  opportunity  of  proving  himself  a  patriot. 

166 


The  Irish  Member 

Mr.  Power  is  a  young  man  who  came 
in  with  the  new  Parliament,  and  has 
already  made  his  mark  upon  an  assembly 
always  ready  to  acknowledge  merit  whatever 
constituency  it  may  represent.  With  singular 
rapidity  and  success  he  adapted  himself 
to  the  atmosphere  of  the  place,  and  on 
making  his  first  speech  showed  himself  pos- 
sessed of  that  indescribable  "  House  of  Com- 
mons manner "  which  other  men  strive  after 
for  a  generation  and  never  acquire.  Imper- 
turbably  self-possessed  without  being  self-con- 
ceited, he  dominates  the  House,  which  gladly 
yields  itself  up  to  the  charm  of  his  unpretentious 
yet  effective  speech. 

The  O'Donoghue  speaks  in  Parliament  under 
a  heavy  weight.  Once  the  idol  of  his  country- 
men in  the  south  and  west  of  Ireland,  he  is 
now  their  abhorrence. 

Who  no  longer  holds  a  place 
In  the  hearts  of  Erin's  race, 
Scattered  o'er  the  earth's  broad  face  ? 
O'Donoghue ! 

Yes  :  true  men,  the  world  all  o'er, 
In  deep  sadness  now  deplore 
That  their  Motherland  e'er  bore 

O'Donoghue ! 

167 


Men   and  Manner  in  Parliament 

This,  and  doggerel  like  it,  the  hon.  member 
for  Tralee  may  hear  chanted  at  his  heels  any 
day  when  he  walks  on  Irish  soil,  and  when  he 
rises  to  address  the  House  of  Commons  it  is 
hummed  in  his  ears  by  his  countrymen  who 
cluster  below  the  gangway.  His  crime  is 
that  he  has  reversed  the  order  of  things 
which  have  gone  forward  in  the  mind 
of  Mr.  Butt.  In  his  early  days  Mr. 
Butt  was  an  anti -nationalist,  and  one  of  the 
most  trenchant  denouncers  of  O'Connell.  He 
is  now,  as  we  know,  the  leader  of  the 
nationalist  party,  and  essays  to  wear  the 
mantle  of  the  Liberator.  In  his  early  days 
The  O'Donoghue  was  a  fervid  nationalist ;  to- 
day he  is  one  of  the  most  dangerous  Parlia- 
mentary opponents  of  Home  Rule.  He  began 
where  Mr.  Butt  left  off,  and  finishes  where 
Mr.  Butt  began.  That  is  all ;  but  the  differ- 
ence to  the  Irish  members  is  immense,  and 
the  interference  of  the  member  for  Tralee  in 
the  debates  on  Irish  matters  is  generally  the 
signal  for  demonstrations  which  go  nearer  to 
pass  the  limits  of  Parliamentary  usages  than 
anything  I  have  seen  attempted.  With  a 
courage  that  excites  the  admiration  of  disin- 
terested lookers-on,  The  O'Donoghue  neverthe- 
less shirks  no  opportunity  of  declaring  his 

168 


The  Irish  Member 

opinions,  and,  appearing  under  the  difficulties 
indicated,  invariably  bears  himself  with  dignity. 
He  has  a  fine  presence,  a  good  voice,  and  a 
composed  manner,  moves  with  natural  gestures, 
and  utters  eloquence  as  if  it  were  his  every- 
day language.  Mr.  Plunket  very  rarely  speaks, 
but  he  speaks  so  well  that  the  House  would 
fain  hear  him  oftener.  His  unpremeditated 
protest  against  Mr.  Mitchell  Henry's  attack 
in  the  Session  of  1874  upon  the  Irish  Bar  was 
a  masterpiece  of  fiery  yet  well -controlled 
eloquence. 

Of    Talkers    pure    and   simple,    described    by 
Dryden, 

The  herd  of  such 
Who  think  too  little  and  who  talk  too  much, 

the  ranks  of  the  Home  Rule  party  furnish 
a  larger  number  of  examples  than  any 
other  section  of  the  House.  As  a  rule, 
it  must  be  admitted  that  the  Irish  Talkers 
are  not  often  dull,  and  in  truth  if  they 
were  the  position  of  the  bulk  of  members 
would  be  unendurable.  It  is  a  merciful  dis- 
pensation of  Providence,  for  which  we  are 
scarcely  sufficiently  warm  in  our  acknowledg- 
ments, that,  admitting  the  necessity  of  one 
province  of  the  kingdom  being  in  a  chronic 

169 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

state  of  dissatisfaction,  the  seat  of  the  sorrow 
has  been  fixed  in  Ireland,  and  that  it  is  in 
the  Irish  accent  the  everlasting  wail  goes  up 
through  the  rafters  of  St.  Stephen's.  Let  us 
pause  a  moment  to  think  how  many  weeks'  pur- 
chase the  Speaker's  life  would  be  worth  sup- 
posing Ireland  were  contented  and  the  inevit- 
able Home  Rule  party  of  the  day  came  from 
Scotland  or  from  Wales. 

About  such  men  as  Mr.  M'Carthy  Downing 
or  Mr.  Mitchell  Henry  there  is,  it  is  true, 
nothing  to  relieve  the  tedium  of  blatant  talk 
or  to  temper  the  feeling  of  disgust  wjth  which 
the  House  hears  poured  forth  a  constant 
stream  of  reckless  statements,  false  inferences, 
and  childish  misrepresentations  of  notorious 
facts.  Mr.  Mitchell  Henry  is  absolutely  with- 
out recommendation  to  the  favourable  notice  of 
an  audience — not  even  having  been  born  an 
Irishman,  and  therefore  lacking  the  overflow- 
ing humour,  the  chivalrous  spirit,  the  uncon- 
scious drollery,  the  endearing  simplicity  of 
mind,  and  the  charming  kindliness  of  manner 
characteristic  of  one  of  the  finest  races  of 
men  that  people  the  earth.  Mr.  M'Carthy 
Downing  was  born  in  county  Kerry,  but 
when  he  reached  the  high  position,  still 
gloriously  held,  of  chairman  of  the  Skib- 

170 


The  Irish  Member 

bereen  Town  Commissioners.,  it  would  have 
been  well  for  him  and  for  a  suffering 
House  of  Commons  if  he  had  recognized  in 
the  promotion  the  eternal  fitness  of  things  and 
permitted  his  mind  to  run  peacefully  through  the 
level  groove  of  the  local  politics  of  the  barony;. 

Mr.  Synan,  though  he  rarely  rises  to  the 
height  of  his  own  voice,  is  a  well-meaning 
man,  and  is  never  really  so  angry  with  any- 
thing as  one  hearing  him  shout  in  the  House  of 
Commons  might  suppose  him  to  be.  Herbert 
Pocket,  walking  across  Palace  Yard  whilst 
Mr.  Synan  was  addressing  the  Speaker  in  the 
recesses  of  the  House  of  Commons.,  might 
suspect  that  his  father-in-law,  old  Bill  Barley, 
leaving  his  bed,  had  got  into  Parliament  and 
had  learned  to  express  himself  in  Parlia- 
mentary language.  Mr.  Synan's  bark  is 
much  worse  than  his  bite,  and  when  he  is 
apparently  in  a  paroxysm  of  passion,  and 
is  undoubtedly  shouting  at  the  top  of  his  voice, 
there  is  a  twinkle  in  his  eye  that  seems  to  say 
to  the  Speaker,  "  It's  all  right,  me  bhoy ;  don't 
be  frightened  ;  I  only  want  them  to  hear  across 
the  Channel  that  I'm  doing  my  duty  as  an 
Irish  member  by  walking  into  everything  and 
proving  that  whatever  is  isn't  right." 

Sir  John  Gray,  Major  O'Gorman,  Mr. 
171 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

Biggar,  Mr.  Conolly,  and,  par  excellence,  Sir 
Patrick  O'Brien  are  members  for  Ireland  who 
seem  like  characters  that  have  stepped  forth 
from  the  pages  of  Charles  Lever  to  take  their 
seats  in  the  usurping  Parliament.  Sir  John 
Gray  rarely  speaks  now,  but  there  was  a  time 
when  he  was  foremost  in  the  fight.  Who  that 
heard  it  can  forget  His  dignified  reproof  to  the 
House  one  evening  during  the  passage  of  the 
Irish  Land  Bill?  The  hon.  knight  was  making 
a  speech  against  something  or  other  when  there 
occurred  to  him,  by  way  of  illustration,  a  story 
about  a  boy  who  had  a  grandmother.  The 
narrative  was  rather  of  a  melancholy  cast, 
and  the  grandmother  appearing  in  its  recital 
with  comical  iteration,  the  House  began  to 
laugh  at  the  exceeding  dolour  of  the  tone  in 
which  the  word  was  pronounced.  At  every 
fresh  introduction  of  "  the  grandmother  "  the 
merriment  increased,  and  at  last  Sir  John, 
standing  indignant  amid  the  idle  mirth,  called 
out  in  stentorian  tones,  "  Sir,  haven't  English 
boys  grandmothers  ?  "  The  laughter  hereupon 
became  boisterous ;  but  the  hon.  knight  had 
made  his  point,  and  suggested,  to  the  confusion 
of  the  Oppressor,  one  point  at  least  upon  which 
the  Celt  stood  on  a  common  footing  with  the 
Sassenach. 

172 


The  Irish  Member 

The  O 'Gorman  is  unique,  and  for  his  due 
treatment  requires  a  chapter  to  himself.  Butler 
relates  of  Hudibras  that 

Here  our  authors  make  a  doubt 
Whether  he  were  more  wise  or  stout. 

Possibly  because  he  is  a  supernaturally 
spacious  person,  this  is  a  difficulty  which  would 
never  occupy  the  ingenuity  of  commentators 
on  the  life  of  the  hon.  member  for  Waterford. 
The  Major  made  his  debut  as  a  Parliamentary 
speaker  early  in  the  Session  in  the  course  of 
the  debate  on  Mr.  Blennerhasset's  motion  for 
the  purchase  of  Irish  railways.  At  this 
time  the  Claimant  to  the  Tichborne  Estates 
filled  a  large  space  in  the  public  mind,  and 
the  discovery  made  upon  the  Major's  present- 
ing himself  from  a  remote  corner  under  the 
gallery  that  the  House  of  Commons  possessed 
a  member  considerably  larger  in  bulk  than  the 
Claimant,  caused  a  flutter  of  excitement  to  run 
from  bench  to  bench.  The  House  was  crowded 
for  a  division  after  a  debate,  which  it  was 
thought  was  closed,  when  the  new  member 
presented  himself  and  stood  silent,  apparently 
gasping  for  breath.  This  preliminary  pecu- 
liarity, now  grown  familiar,  was  at  first 
sight  startling.  When  silence  was  broken,  by 

173 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

a  voice  which  in  thunder  tones  said,  '  Mr. 
Speaker !  "  the  contrast  and  the  whole  scene 
was  so  comical  that  the  House  burst  into  a 
roar  of  laughter,  which  continued  almost  with- 
out cessation  till  the  Major  sat  down,  he  having 
in  the  meantime  succeeded  in  bringing  up  the 
Speaker,  with  whom  he  held  a  brief  controversy 
on  a  point  of  order. 

The  next  time  the  Major  spoke  was  ten  days 
later,  the  provocation  being  an  endeavour  made 
by  Mr.  Richard  Smythe  to  enforce  the  prohibi- 
tion of  the  sale  of  liquor  in  Ireland  on  Sundays. 
This  roused  him  to  an  unusual  height  of 
indignation.  Commencing  by  addressing  the 
Speaker  as  "  Mr.  Chairman,"  and  occasionally 
lapsing  into  use  of  the  forbidden  term  of 
address  "  Gentlemen  !  "  he  eloquently  opposed 
the  motion.  "  For  ever  let  the  heavens  fall  !  " 
he  fervently  exclaimed,  "  but  never  let  it  be  said 
that  you  introduced  into  Ireland  an  Act  which 
prevented  a  poor  man  going  out  for  a  walk  on 
a  Sunday — p'raps  a  hot  Sunday,  maybe  a  wet 
Sunday — with  his  family,  and  that  he  could  not 
get  a  drop  of  beer,  or  porter,  or  whisky.  It's 
creating  one  law  for  the  rich  and  another  for 
the  poor,  and  that,"  said  the  Major,  sinking 
back  into  his  seat,  "is  a  thing  I  never  will 
stand."  A  few  weeks  later  the  Major  added  to 

174 


The  Irish  Member 

his  growing  renown  by  the  delivery  of  his 
famous  allegory  about  a  nun  who  "  had  a 
sister  whose  name  was  Sophia,"  and  who  in 
some  incomprehensible  manner  was  murdered, 
together  with  her  father,  "who  was  a  king," 
and  one  or  two  of  her  brothers.  Whether 
the  bloody  deed  had  any  connection  with 
Mr.  Newdegate's  motion  for  an  inspection  of 
'monastic  institutions,  in  the  debate  on  which  the 
Major  was  speaking,  no  one  can  say. 

The  Major's  great  night,  however,  happened 
just  before  the  close  of  the  Session.  The 
House  was  in  Committee  on  the  Expiring 
Laws  Continuance  Bill,  a  stage  which  the 
Irish  members  stoutly  opposed,  objecting  to 
the  inclusion  in  the  Bill  of  the  Coercion 
Acts.  In  the  long  debate  which  preceded 
the  removal  of  the  mace  the  Major  made  a 
short  speech — the  head  or  tail  of  which  no 
one  could  discover — and  sat  down,  it  being 
understood  that  he  had  accomplished  his  mis- 
sion. But  like  a  tame  tiger  who  has  once 
tasted  flesh,  The  O' Gorman,  having  experienced 
the  delight  of  the  cheers  and  laughter 
drawn  from  the  House,  grew  perfectly  un- 
manageable, and  finally  ran  away  with  the 
whole  Irish  team.  Up  to  half-past  twelve  the 
debate  had  been  decorous  and  even  dull. 

175 


Men  and  Manner  in   Parliament 

About  that  hour  the  Major  began  to  grow  rest- 
less, and  his  deep  voice  was  occasionally  heard 
rolling  through  the  smoke  of  the  debate,  like 
field-guns  fired  amid  the  rattle  of  rifles.  It 
was  Mr.  Butt's  defection  that  set  him  off  at  last. 
An  aggravating  repetition  of  motions  to  report 
progress  led  Mr.  Butt  to  say  angrily  and 
audibly  to  his  faithful  party  that  if  such  a 
course  were  persisted  in  he  would  vote  against 
them.  And  he  was  as  good  as  his  word.  He 
voted  in  the  same  lobby  with  the  Ministers, 
and  on  his  return  Mr.  Biggar  moved  that  the 
Chairman  do  leave  the  chair. 

Mr.  Biggar  is  a  gentleman  chiefly  dis- 
tinguished by  a  chronic  hoarseness  of  voice, 
which  earlier  in  the  evening  had  drawn  forth  a 
protest  from  the  Speaker,  who  begged  Mr. 
Biggar  "  not  to  talk  to  himself,  but  to  address 
the  chair."  The  hon.  member  also  has  a  habit, 
when  he  desires  to  catch  the  Speaker's  eye,  of 
holding  out  his  hat  at  arm's  length,  and  shaking 
it  as  if  he  were  hailing  a  cab.  On  this 
occasion  his  hat  was  discovered  violently 
waving  from  the  bench  just  behind  that  on 
which  sit  the  ex-Ministers,  and  it  appeared 
that  he  had  got  down  there  to  be 
nearer  the  Speaker,  and  so  ensure  his  hearing 
him  when  he  moved  his  motion.  Mr.  Butt 

176 


The  Irish  Member 

was  sitting  next  to  the  hon.  member,  and  as 
soon  as  he  resumed  his  seat  the  member 
for  Limerick  rose,  and  in  hotly  spoken  words 
denounced  Mr.  Biggar  as  an  enemy  to  the 
true  interests  of  Ireland.  It  was  now  that  The 
O'Gorman  came  to  the  fore.  Whilst  Mr.  Butt 
was  speaking  the  Major  suddenly  interposed 
with  a  violent  burst  of  hissing,  which  unparlia- 
mentary sound  he  presently  changed  for  shouts 
of  "  No  !  no  !  "  "  Oh  !  oh  !  "  "  Ah  !  "  and  other 
interruptions,  all  uttered  in  a  voice  the  like  of 
which  for  volume  has  never  had  its  equal  in 
the  House  of  Commons. 

Such  general  approval  of  Mr.  Butt's  senti- 
ments was  expressed  that  Mr.  Biggar  shrank 
from  insistence  upon  his  motion,  and  it  would 
have  fallen  through  but  for  The  O'Gorman, 
who,  with  his  hands  clasped  across  his  capa- 
cious stomach,  his  hat  firmly  pressed  down 
over  his  eyes,  and  a  preternaturally  stern 
expression  on  his  face,  insisted  on  a  division. 
'  The  question  is,"  said  the  Speaker,  "  that 
this  motion  be  by  leave  withdrawn.  I  think 
the  Ayes  have  it."  '  The  Noes  have  it," 
roared  the  Major.  "  I  think  the  Ayes  have  it," 
the  Speaker  mildly  repeated.  "  The  Noes  have 
it,"  bellowed  the  Major  amid  roars  of  laughter. 
In  vain  Mr.  Sullivan,  Mr.  M'Carthy  Downing, 

177  M 


Men   and  Manner  in  Parliament 

and  others  went  up  to  him  and  implored  him 
to  desist.  At  other  times  he  is,  I  believe,  mild 
as  a  lamb,  and  most  exemplary  in  his  obedience 
to  orders  ;  but  the  blood  of  The  O 'Germans  was 
up,  and  to  all  entreaties  the  Major  answered 
with  increasing  fierceness,  "  The  Noes  have 
it."  There  was  no  help  for  it.  The  House 
was  cleared  for  the  division,  and  presently  The 
O 'Gorman,  who,  as  I  have  said,  is  considerably 
bigger  than  the  Claimant,  walked  up  the  floor 
of  the  House  side  by  side  with  his  diminutive 
co-teller,  Mr.  Biggar,  at  the  head  of  a  division 
of  irreconcilables  full  thirteen  strong. 

This  was  the  commencement  of  a  succession 
of  divisions  which  carried  the  Committee  on 
past  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  for  all 
the  Major  was  responsible.  Just  after  the 
figures  in  this  first  division  were  declared, 
he  fell  into  an  error  which  momentarily  made 
him  cautious.  An  amendment  by  one  of  the 
Home  Rulers  was  put  from  the  Chair  in  due 
form :  "  That  these  words  be  added  to  the 
Clause.  Those  that  are  of  that  opinion  say 
'Aye';  the  contrary,  '  No.'  '  There  were  a 
few  "  Ayes  "  from  the  Irish  members,  and  a 
loud  shout  of  "  No "  from  the  Ministerialists. 
The  O' Gorman  had  not  heard  the  question,  but 
the  cry  of  opposition  acted  upon  him  like  the 

178 


The  Irish  Member 

blast  of  a  trumpet  upon  an  old  war  horse,  and 
he  suddenly  came  in  with  a  great  roar  of 
"  No  1  "  This  unintentional  opposition  to  his 
own  side  was  greeted  with  a  burst  of  laughter 
that  lasted  several  moments.  The  O' Gorman 
noticed  it  only  by  raising  ,  his  hat  and 
bowing  defiantly  to  hon.  gentlemen  opposite. 
He  was  quiet  for  a  short  time  after  this, 
but  recovered  his  spirits,  and  thenceforward 
ruthlessly  objected  to  everything,  dividing  the 
Committee  time  after  time,  and  finally  bring- 
ing matters  to  a  state  in  which  Mr.  Butt,  Mr. 
Sullivan,  and  a  score  of  the  more  responsible 
Home  Rulers  left  the  House.  This  made 
no  difference  to  The  O' Gorman.  He  seemed  to 
feel  that  a  great  hour  had  struck  for  Ireland, 
and  as  he  panted  in  and  out  of  the  division 
lobby  with  a  comical  look  of  fierceness  on  his 
face,  his  enormous  person  was  suffused  with 
the  consciousness  of  the  conviction  that  if  fate 
had  sounded  the  Hour,  here  truly  was  the  Man. 
Amid  much  held  in  common  by  the  mem- 
bers for  Ireland,  Major  O 'Gorman  preserves 
one  strong  mark  of  individuality,  which  will 
make  him  notable  as  long  as  the  city  of  Water - 
ford  spares  him  to  Parliament. 

The  rest  to  some  faint  meaning  make  pretence, 
But  Shadwell  never  deviates  into  sense. 
179 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

Mr.  Conolly  is  a  red-hot  Protestant  who  sits 
on  the  Conservative  benches  and  displays  much 
ingenuity  and  good  feeling  in  stirring  up  with 
a  long  pole  his  compatriots  on  the  other  side 
of  the  House.  Sir  Patrick  O'Brien  is  always 
ready  to  rise  at  touch  of  the  pole,  and  being  of 
a  choleric  temperament,  and  constitutionally  of 
a  hazy  mental  vision,  the  general  drift  of  his 
remarks  is  so  hard  to  follow  that  the  House 
has  long  since  given  up  the  attempt.  He  is 
not  an  infrequent  speaker,  but  his  talk  is  such 
as  Carlyle  describes  Coleridge's  monologues  to 
have  been,  "  not  flowing  anywhither  like  a 
river,  but  spreading  everywhither  in  inextricable 
currents,  and  regurgitations  like  a  lake  or  sea ; 
terribly  deficient  in  definite  goal  or  aim,  nay 
often  in  logical  intelligibility ;  what  you  were  to 
believe  or  do,  on  any  earthly  or  heavenly  thing, 
obstinately  refusing  to  appear  from  it.  So  that 
most  times  you  felt  logically  lost ;  swamped  near 
to  drowning  in  this  tide  of  ingenious  vocables, 
spreading  out  boundless  as  if  to  submerge  the 
world."  If  Sir  Patrick  has  found  time  to  read 
Lord  Lytton's  Fables  in  Song,  he  may  recog- 
Inize  his  prototype  in  the  ancient  fox  of  fable  :— 

I  am  the  ancient  fox  of  fable. 
Few  are  the  men  I  have  met  with  able 
To  understand  me  ;  and  still  more  few 
The  men  that  listen  to  those  that  do. 
180 


The  Irish   Member 

Mais  qu'est  que  ga  fait?  The  eye  of  Ireland 
is  upon  its  sons  in  the  alien  House  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  woe  unto  him  whose  name  does  not 
appear  with  regularity  in  the  local  journals  as 
having,  in  every  other  debate  at  least,  emulated 
in  word-battle  the  fame  of 

Ginral  Jackson, 
Who  thrampled  on  the  Saxon. 


181 


CHAPTER   VI 
CANDIDATES   FOR    THE    LEADERSHIP 

First  must  give  place  to  last  because  last  must  have 
his  time  to  come  ;  but  last  gives  place  to  nothing  because 
there  is  not  another  to  succeed. 

JOHN  BUNYAN. 

CIRCUMSTANCES  of  a  peculiar  character  in  the 
political  world  pressed  upon  the  people  of 
England  during  the  Session  of  1874  the  ques- 
tion, Who  is  the  coming  Leader  of  the  Liberal 
party?  Removed  from  power  by  a  swift  and 
sudden  stroke,  Mr.  Gladstone,  five  years 
earlier  the  absolute  arbiter  (within  constitu- 
tional bounds)  of  the  destinies  of  the  nation, 
retired  from  the  Leadership  not  only  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  which  was  compulsory, 
but  of  the  Opposition,  which  was  voluntary. 
This  retirement,  never  formally  announced, 
sometimes  compromised  by  participation  in 
formal  and  customary  ceremonies,  such  as 
the  moving  of  the  Address  in  reply  to  the 

182 


Candidates  for  the  Leadership 

Queen's  Speech  on  the  opening  of  Parliament 
and  the  bestowal  of  the  thanks  of  the  House 
on  troops  that  took  part  in  the  expedition  to 
Ashantee,  was  indicated  in  a  peculiar  manner. 
According  to  Parliamentary  etiquette  the  seat 
of  the  Leader  of  the  Opposition  is  opposite  the 
brass -bound  box  at  the  end  of  the  clerk's  table 
directly  facing  the  Leader  of  the  House.  On 
the  night  when  the  Address  was  moved  this 
place  was  punctiliously  kept  vacant  for  Mr. 
Gladstone.  On  his  arrival  the  right  hon. 
gentleman  sat  down  at  the  lower  end,  amongst 
the  throng  of  ex-Under-Secretaries  of  State. 
Thence  he  rose  to  address  the  House,  follow- 
ing Mr.  Disraeli,  and  it  is  from  this  place 
that  all  his  speeches  have  been  delivered,  in- 
cluding the  memorable  one  with  which  he 
enlivened  the  last  Wednesday  afternoon  of  the 
Session. 

It  was  a  significant  feature  in  the  scene 
in  which  Mr.  Gladstone,  hitherto  scorn- 
fully patient  and  contemptuously  long-suffering 
under  the  persistent  attacks  of  Sir  W.  Harcourt, 
at  last  turned,  and  with  easy  gesture  and  no 
apparent  exercise  of  force  crushed  his  pre- 
sumptuous adversary,  that  the  ex-Solicitor- 
General  delivered  his  attack  standing  in  the 
place  of  the  Leader  of  the  Opposition. 

183 


Men   and   Manner  in  Parliament 

Temporary  disorganization  of  the  Liberal 
party  following  upon  rout  at  the  hustings  in 
February  brought  into  prominence  the  ques- 
tion of  candidature  for  the  Leadership  on 
that  side  of  the  House.  There  are  other 
reasons.,  which  daily  increase  in  cogency,  why 
men's  minds  should  be  turned  in  this  direction 
and  should  include  in  their  purview  the  question 
of  Leadership  on  both  sides.  Never  in  his  Par- 
liamentary career  'has  either  Mr.  Disraeli  or  Mr. 
Gladstone  exceeded  himself  in  the  vigorous 
ability  displayed  by  each  during  the  last  Ses- 
sion. Nevertheless,  the  facts  remain  that 
one  is  in  his  sixty-ninth  year  and  the  other 
in  his  sixty-fifth.  Few  unaccomplished  facts  are 
more  certain  than  that  Mr.  Disraeli  is  now 
holding  his  last  Premiership,  and  that  with 
his  next  lease  of  power  the  final  chapter  of 
Mr.  Gladstone's  life  as  an  English  Prime 
Minister  will  be  closed.  Who  is  to  take  up 
the  wand  of  power  when  it  falls  from  the 
hands  of  these  potent  magicians? 

Looking  first  in  search  of  answer  along  the 
Liberal  benches,  we  see  six  men  whose  promi- 
nence in  debate  suggests  that  amongst  them 
is  to  be  found  the  successor  to  Mr.  Glad- 
stone. They  are  the  Marquis  of  Harrington, 
Mr.  Forster,  Mr.  Lowe,  Mr.  Goschen,  Mr. 

184 


Candidates  for  the   Leadership 

Childers,  and  last,  though  in  the  opinion  of 
one  person  at  least,  Sir  W.  Harcourt. 
They  have  with  more  or  less  officiousness 
—less  almost  exclusively  referring  to  the 
Marquis  of  Hartington — presented  themselves 
to  the  House  under  circumstances  which  sug- 
gested to  Mr.  Lowth'er  the  happy  description 
of  them  collectively  as  "  the  Commissioners 
for  executing  the  office  of  Leader  of  the  Oppo- 
sition." It  was  curious  to  note  early  in  the 
Session  in  what  regular  rotation  Mr.  Lowe, 
Mr.  Forster,  Mr.  Goschen,  and  Mr.  Childers 
assumed  the  functions  of  the  absent  Leader. 
Sometimes  the  change  was  effected  on  alter- 
nate nights ;  sometimes  the  Leadership  was 
invested  in  one  man  for  three  successive 
nights.  The  variation  was  inevitable,  and 
Mr.  Disraeli  was  doubtless  sincere  in  his 
expression  of  satisfaction  during  the  debate  on 
the  Scotch  Church  Patronage  Bill  when 
noting  Mr.  Gladstone's  return  he  saw  a 
prospect  of  the  end  of  this  condition  of  bewilder- 
ing uncertainty. 

The  phenomenon  was  not  without  its  special 
value  as  affording  an  opportunity  of  observing  the 
candidates  engaged  in  a  sort  of  rehearsal.  It 
must  be  acknowledged  that  the  first,  and  through- 
out the  prevalent,,  feeling  was  one  of  despair.  Mr. 

185 


Men  and    Manner  in  Parliament 

Gladstone  is  not  a  great  or  a  successful  party 
leader,  falling  in  this  respect,  as  has  been  illus- 
trated, far  short  of  the  skill  of  Mr.  Disraeli. 
But  the  great  gulf  fixed  between  him 
and  the  most  promising  of  the  candidates  for 
the  succession  of  power  is  one  to  be  bridged 
over  only  in  the  moment  of  direst  and  most 
absolute  necessity. 

Intellectually,  Mr.  Lowe  stands  on  the 
nearest  level  with  Mr.  Gladstone.  He  pos- 
sesses some  qualities  which  would  recom- 
mend him  for  promotion  to  the  Leadership  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  if  not  to  the  Premier- 
ship— which,  it  will  be  well  to  note  at  the 
outset,  are  two  entirely  different  things.  He 
is  a  skilful  debater,  thrusts  with  keen  and 
polished  lance,  and  parries  with  a  shield  of 
fine  workmanship  held  with  easy  yet  strong 
grip.  He  would  be  great  at  "  question  time," 
and  in  replying  on  a  debate  the  House  would 
be  treated  to  delightful  specimens  of  caustic 
oratory  in  the  course  of  which  solecisms 
uttered  on  the  other  side  would  be  infallibly 
detected  and  incontinently  rent  to  shreds.  But 
a  Leader  of  the  House  of  Commons  cannot 
rule  by  intellect  alone.  He  wants  judgment, 
tact,  breadth  of  view,  command  of  temper,  and 
that  constitutional  quality  which  can  be  fully 

186 


Candidates  for  the  Leadership 

described  only  by  the  French  word  bonhomie. 
In  all  these  qualities  Mr.  Lowe  is  deficient,  and 
thus  it  comes  to  pass  that  his  chances  of 
succeeding  Mr1.  Gladstone  are  rarely  discussed. 
To  mention  Sir  W.  Harcourt  in  such  an 
inquiry  would  a  year  earlier  have  appeared 
to  be  a  joke.  Within  the  few  weeks  pre- 
ceding the  end  of  the  Session  the  ex-Solicitor- 
General  formally  entered  himself  for  the  race, 
and  must  be  considered  as  in  the  running.  It 
is  no  new  or  unusual  thing  for  young  men  to 
enter  Parliament  with  the  fixed  resolve  to 
make  a  lasting  reputation,  and  with  high 
hope  of  success.  It  is  much  more  true  that 
every  member  of  Parliament  has  hid  away  in 
his  desk  the  portfolio  of  the  Premier  than  that 
every  soldier  carries  in  his  knapsack  the  baton 
of  a  Field-Marshal.  A  single  successful  speech 
may  draw  upon  a  man  the  attention  of  the 
House,  and  thereafter  his  future  is  under  his 
own  guidance.  Mr.  Vernon  Harcourt  had  care- 
fully studied  the  lives  of  successful  men  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  was  fortunate  in  hitting 
upon  the  safe  and  sure  way  to  success,  and 
was  gifted  by  nature  with  some  talent  for 
treading  it.  Entering  Parliament  just  after 
the  hey-day  of  the  Adullamites,  the  mature 
youth  whom  Oxford  had  chosen  to  represent 

187 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

it  became  seized  with  the  conviction  that  the 
cheapest  and  quickest  way  to  gain  personal 
importance  in  the  House  of  Commons  was  to 
be  in  a  chronic  state  of  opposition — not  party 
opposition,  that  is  a  matter  of  course  to  which 
every  man  adapts  himself,  but  opposition  to 
his  own  leaders.  To  sit  on  the  Liberal  benches 
and  thwart  Mr.  Gladstone ;  to  range  himself 
on  the  Conservative  side  and  criticize  Mr. 
'Disraeli,  these  are  the  two  courses  open  to  the 
young  member  ambitious  of  becoming  a  some- 
body in  the  House  of  Commons.  Predilection 
for  Liberalism,  and  the  circumstance  of  his 
having  been  returned  by  the  Liberal  electors 
of  Oxford,  naturally  directed  Mr.  Vemon  Har- 
court  to  what  was  then  the  Ministerial  side  of 
the  House,  where  he  of  course  took  his  seat 
below  the  gangway. 

Opportunities  of  making  himself  notable  were 
diligently  sought  and  industriously  used.  The 
hon.  and  learned  member  did  not  waste  his 
time  in  hunting  ground  game.  Mr.  Gladstone 
and  Mr.  Disraeli  were  the  twin  objects  of 
his  attention,  and  he  kept  in  their  company 
and  shared  in  their  "  kicking  up  of  the  dust," 
even  though  it  were  in  something  of  the  com- 
paratively minor  position  of  the  fly  on  the 
chariot  wheel.  A  commanding  figure,  a  good 

188 


Candidates  for  the  Leadership 

voice,  a  sarcastic  style,  a  happy  gift  of  phrase- 
making,  a  fund  of  general  reading,  and  a 
lawyer-like  faculty  of  mastering  a  brief  at  an 
hour's  notice  combined  to  make  him  a  Parlia- 
mentary speaker  decidedly  above  the  average. 
Somebody  trying  to  define  pleasure  has  said  it 
consists  chiefly  in  surprise.  Of  this  also  Mr. 
Vernon  Harcourt  had  taken  count,  and  till  by 
repetition  the  thing  palled  upon  the  accustomed 
palate,  the  House  of  Commons  had  the 
"  pleasure  "  of  hearing  a  professed  Liberal,  after 
having  paid  some  compliments  to  his  chiefs, 
suddenly  turn  upon  them  and  in  bitter  words 
denounce  their  course  of  procedure. 

No  one  knew  for  certain  when  Mr.  Vernon 
Harcourt  rose  to  speak  in  debate  which  side  he 
would  espouse,  a  circumstance  that  of  itself  lent 
an  interest  to  his  interposition.  The  excitement 
was  cleverly  kept  up  by  the  ostentatiously 
impartial  manner  in  which  he  alternately 
administered  praise  and  blame.  An  able 
man  who  professes  himself  "  independent "  in 
the  House  of  Commons  is  like  one  standing  in 
the  centre  of  a  poised  plank  on  either  end  of 
which  a  child  sits.  By  the  slightest  motion  one 
way  or  the  other  the  centre  figure  can  sway 
the  ends  at  his  pleasure.  Similarly  a  skilful 
speaker  in  an  assembly  divided  by  a  sharp 

189 


Men   and   Manner  in  Parliament 

party  line  can  move  it  to  applause  which  shall- 
be  continuous,  in  the  aggregate  general. 
Speaking,  say,  from  the  Liberal  side,  he 
begins  by  admissions  favourable  to  the  oppo- 
site party,  which  are  rapturously  cheered  as 
indicating  dissension  in  the  enemy's  ranks. 
After  a  while  he  proceeds  to  show  that,  not- 
withstanding this  state  of  things,  the  right 
hon.  gentleman  the  member  for  Buckingham- 
shire is  no  better  than  he  should  be,  whilst 
the  party  he  leads  has  many  gaping  joints  in 
its  armour.  Hereupon  the  Liberals  cheer, 
less,  it  is  true,  in  support  of  the  speaker  than 
in  triumph  over  their  momentarily  crestfallen 
opponents.  And  so  the  plank  is  set  in  motion, 
now  one  end  in  high  elation,  now  the  other, 
whilst  the  figure  in  the  centre  folds  its  arms 
and  muses  on  its  own  mightiness.  The  trick 
is  easily  detected  and  seems  facile  to  learn 
and  practise.  That  it  is  not  so  may  be 
gathered  from  a  consideration  of  less  adroit 
practitioners — Mr.  C.  Lewis,  for  example,  who 
during  the  Session  of  1874  essayed  to  follow 
on  the  Conservative  side  the  course  which  has 
led  so  many  Liberal  politicians  to  the  Treasury 
Bench. 

It    was    Mr.    Vernon    Harcourt's    misfortune 
that    he    was,    with    unusual    promptitude    and 

190 


Candidates  for  the  Leadership 

unanimity,  "  found  out,"  or  at  least  the  House 
thought  it  had  "  found  him  out,"  which  for  all 
practical  purposes  amounts  to  the  same  thing. 
At  the  period  indicated,  which  specially  includes 
the  Session  of  1873,  it  was  understood  that  the 
object  of  the  hon.  and  learned  gentleman's 
ambition  was ,  the  Solicitor-Generalship.  It 
was  a  matter  of  common  occurrence  for  refer- 
ence to  be  openly  made  in  debate  to  the 
existence  and  pressure  of  this  motive.  At  the 
close  of  the  Session  the  coveted  prize  was 
within  his  grasp,  but  its  possession  proved 
almost  illusory,  leaving  him  only  a  knight's 
title  to  convince  him  that  it  had  not  been  a 
dream.  At  the  opening  of  the  Session  of 
1874  he  was  Sir  William  Harcourt,  with  a 
seat  on  the  front  Opposition  Bench,  and  in 
contact  with  circumstances  that  suggested  the 
passage  of  a  cycle  since  the  days  when  Vernon 
Harcourt  sat  below  the  gangway  opposite  and 
twitted  "  my  right  hon.  friend  at  the  head  of 
the  Government." 

Here  was  collapse  of  a  great  scheme, 
just  when  the  patient  private  had  struggled 
out  of  the  ranks,  and  had  his  place  and 
his  cocked  hat  to  ride  with  the  staff ! 
What  was  to  be  done?  There  were  two 
courses  open  to  him.  He  might  throw  in 

191 


Men   and   Manner  in  Parliament 

his  lot  with  his  colleagues,  wear  their  uniform, 
do  sentry  work  on  the  front  Opposition  Bench, 
go  out  under  fire  when  ordered,  vote  with  the 
Whip,  and  in  due  time,  when  the  tide  turned, 
cross  over  to  the  Treasury  Bench  once  more  as 
Solicitor-General,  with  the  certain  prospect  of 
the  reversion  of  a  judgeship  as  the  reward  of 
faithful  service.  Or  he  might  fling  off  his 
allegiance  to  his  chief,  deliberately  renounce 
his  chances  of  promotion  when  Mr.  Gladstone 
should  come  back  to  office,  and,  defying  his 
old  patron,  play  double  or  quits  with  Fortune. 
After  some  hesitation,  and  partly  urged  on 
by  circumstances,  Sir  W.  Harcourt  decided 
upon  the  latter  course.  Had  Mr.  Gladstone 
been  firmly  seated  in  his  command  at  the 
opening  of  the  Session  there  is  little  doubt 
that  his  ex-Solicitor-General  would  have  jogged 
along  with  such  equable  pace  as  nature 
has  made  possible  to  him.  For  some  weeks 
he  did  so  travel,  submitting  to  the  discipline 
of  the  ex -Ministerial  bench.  The  sight  of 
the  apparently  open  Leadership  and  of  his 
colleagues  struggling  to  make  it  their  own 
proved  too  much  for  him1.  After  a  brief 
period  of  indecision  he  threw  aside  his  unac- 
customed corks  and  struck  boldly  out  for  him- 
self, shaping  his  course  right  up  the  middle  of 

192 


Candidates  for  the  Leadership 

the  stream.  Like  the  sailor,  whose  watching 
and  waiting  '  Wife  '  Mr.  Faed  painted  for  this 
same  year's  Academy, 

He  trimmed  his  sail  to  the  baffling  winds, 
And  steered  to  the  raging  main  ; 

Ah  !  who  can  tell  if  the  sailor  bold 
May  ever  come  back  again  ? 

Sir  W.  Harcourt's  new  departure  is  note- 
worthy. Like  'his  earlier  Advances  towards 
Parliamentary  fame  it  is  the  result  rather 
of  study  and  imitation  than  of  intuition 
and  impulse.  When  he  set  out  on  his  career 
for  the  Solicitor-Generalship  he  adopted  as  his 
own  the  tactics  of  Mr.  Lowe  and  his  com- 
panions in  the  Cave  of  Adullam,  and  proving 
an  adept  in  their  management,  finally  suc- 
ceeded in  his  object.  Flying  now  at  higher 
game,  he  takes  another  model  and  pursues  a 
different  course.  He  has  been  looking  back 
to  the  annals  of  twenty-eight  years  ago,  and 
finds  there  how  Sir  Robert  Peel,  taking  on  the 
Corn  Law  question  the  course  his  conscience 
dictated,  forfeited  the  allegiance  of  his  party 
and  weakened  his  own  position,  and  how  Mr. 
Disraeli  made  himself  the  spokesman  of  the 
malcontents,  saying  out  in  bold  language  all 
the  bitter  things  that  were  rankling  in  the 

193  N 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

heart  of  the  "  betrayed "  Protectionists.  His 
action  at  this  epoch  proved  the  turning-point 
in  his  Parliamentary  career.  Hitherto  he 
had  been  rather  endured  than  encouraged, 
the  elder  folk  among  the  party  with 
which  he  had  allied  himself  looking,  with 
suspicion  upon  the  young  man  who  came 
down  to  the  House  with  carefully  prepared 
epigrams  and  not  too  pellucid  adumbrations  of 
a  new  philosophy,  and  who  was  in  personal 
aspect  not  altogether  dissimilar  from  Maud's 
brother, 

That  jewelled  mass  of  millinery, 
That  oiled  and  curled  Assyrian  Bull, 
Smelling  of  musk  and  of  insolence. 

There  was  no  one  ready  and  able  to  say 
such  cruel  things  of  a  great  Minister  tottering 
to  his  fall  as  he :  so  it  came  to  pass  that 
Mr.  Disraeli  was  accepted  as  the  spokesman  of 
a  party,  and  having  once  gained  a  responsible 
and  weighty  position  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, improved  his  opportunities  till  he  reached 
the  highest  eminence  of  English  political  life- 
It  is  possible  that  Sir  W.  Harcourt  is  uncon- 
scious of  the  points  of  resemblance  between 
the  line  of  conduct  suddenly  taken  by  him  in 
the  first  Session  of  the  new  Parliament  and 

194 


Candidates  for  the  Leadership 

that  adopted  by  the  present  Prime  Minister 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  In 
any  case  the  coincidence  is  remarkable,  and  it 
will  be  interesting  to  watch  how  far  history 
will  repeat  itself  to  the  end.  Meanwhile 
it  is  reassuring  to  remember,  that  between  the 
delivery  of  the  speech  in  which  Mr.  Disraeli 
likened  Sir  Robert  Peel  to  the  traitorous 
Turkish  admiral  and  his  promotion  to  the 
Premiership  twenty-two  long  years  elapsed. 

It  is  not  very  long  since  Mr.  Forster 
seemed  a  promising  candidate,  whose  only 
possible  rival  in  public  estimation  was  Mr. 
Cardwell.  This  view  was  held  most  strongly 
by  those  whose  acquaintance  with  the  right 
hon.  gentleman  was  confined  to  reading  the 
reports  of  ,his  speeches  in  the  newspapers. 
To  persons  familiar  with  the  manner  of  Mr. 
Forster  some  grave  obstacles  to  his  successful 
Leadership  will  occur.  He  is  not  a  pleasing 
speaker,  yet  is  very  fond  of  talking,  and  on 
occasions  when  it  has  fallen  to  his  lot  to  assume 
the  duties  of  the  Leadership  he  has  entangled 
matters  and  aggravated  difficulties  by  officious 
interference.  Of  course  this  is  a  failing  of 
inexperience.  If  duly  installed  in  the  office 
he  might  learn  that  great  secret  of  from 
time  to  time  judiciously  saying  nothing,  of 

195 


Men   and   Manner  in  Parliament 

which  Mr.  Disraeli  is  master.  But  Mr. 
Forster  has  the  radical  fault  of  heaviness. 
The  light,  nervous,  skilful  hand  which  sometimes 
by  a  slight  turn  steers  a  stormful  assembly 
out  from  under  the  clouds  and  among  the 
rocks  into  the  sunshine  and  the  calm,  would  be 
found  wanting  in  him.  Like  some  other  of 
the  candidates,  he  is  lacking  in  that  faculty  of- 
playful  humour  which  stood  Lord  Palmerston 
in  such  good  stead,  and  which,  possessed  in 
another  phase,  makes  Mr.  Disraeli  a  success- 
ful Leader  of  the  House.  He  sometimes 
seems  conscious  of  this  failing  and  gallantly 
attempts  to  overcome  it.  The  result  is  not 
satisfactory — at  least  to  the  audience.  The 
fun  itself  is  not  of  a  high  class,  and  the 
ungainly  motions  with  which  on  these  occasions 
the  right  hon.  gentleman's  body  curiously 
vibrates,  taken  in  connection  with  the  inter- 
mission of  a  series  of  chuckles  and  the  violent 
raising  of  a  voice  at  no  time  musical,  makes 
the  process  of  parturition  painful. 

Mr.  Forster  had  the  good  fortune  to  be 
brought  into  prominence  as  the  Minister  respon- 
sible for  the  progress  of  a  measure  to  the  main 
principle  of  which  every  one  wished  well.  It  is 
'distinctly  foreign  to  the  spirit  and  scope  of 
these  papers  to  discuss  political  bearings  or 

196 


Candidates  for  the  Leadership 

positions.  But  it  may  be  observed,  being  a 
notorious  fact,  that  since  the  passing  of  the 
Education  Act  he  has  lost  the  enthusi- 
astic support  from  the  Liberal  side  of  the 
House  which  once  buoyed  him  up.  The 
remark  is  made  merely  for  the  purpose  of 
adding  that  one  result  of  this  condition  of 
affairs  has  been  to  make  the  House  much  more 
impatient  of  those  peculiarities  of  personal 
manner  which  as  the  Sessions  roll  on  become 
rather  more  than  less  marked. 

Like  that  of  Sir  W.  Harcourt,  the  candi- 
dature of  Mr.  Goschen  and  Mr.  Childers  is  not 
to  be  seriously  discussed  at  the  present  juncture. 
Their  time  may  come,  but  it  is  not  yet. 
Both  right  hon.  gentlemen  have  succeeded  in 
establishing  a  character  as  able  administrators 
and  as  debaters  not  to  be  scorned  in  a  pitched 
battle.  Neither  has  \ shown  himself  gifted 
with  the  heaven-born  genius  that  made  Pitt's 
accession  to  the  Premiership  in  his  twenty- 
fourth  year  appear  a  natural  sequence  of  the 
occurrence  of  a  vacancy.  Nor  is  either  of 
sufficiently  long  standing  to  claim  promotion 
by  right  of  seniority  or  service.  During  the 
Session  of  1874  Mr.  Goschen  startled  the 
House  by  appearing,  for  one  night  only,  in  quite 
a  new  character.  When  in  office,  and  indeed  on 

197 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

ordinary  occasions,  he  .addresses  the  House 
in  a  timid,  jhalf  apologetical  manner,  in 
language  which  well  beseems  his  mien.  On 
the  night  when  the  last  stage  of  the  Licensing 
Bill  was  reached,  it  being  apparently  his  turn 
to  speak  for  "  the  party,"  he  attacked  the 
Government  in  general  and  the  Home  Secretary 
in  particular  in  a  lively,  bitter,  sarcastic  speech 
that  would  have  done  credit  to  Mr.  Lowe 
himself.  It  is  true  the  effect  was  some- 
what marred  by  the  right  hon.  gentleman's 
holding  his  hat  with  one  hand  behind  his  back 
as  he  spoke,  sedulously  standing  clear  of  the 
table,  and  presenting  on  the  whole  an  appear- 
ance of  nervous  preparation  for  instant  flight 
that  suggested  the  cherishing  of  a  design  to 
put  on  his  hat  and  make  a  run  for  it  as  soon 
as  he  had  said  all  that  was  on  his  mind.  But 
the  speech  was  emphatically  good,  and  created 
in  the  minds  of  hearers  not  only  surprise  but 
expectation. 

The  Marquis  of  Hartington's  candidature  for 
the  Leadership  is  certainly  not  of  his  own 
proposing.  His  lordship  his  never  pushed 
himself  forward,  yet  his  name  has  been  so  fre- 
quently mentioned  that  the  outside  public  have 
grown  quite  familiar  with  the  prospect  of  such 
a  phenomenon  as  a  '  Hartington  Ministry." 

198 


Candidates  for  the  Leadership 

There  was  once,  nay  twice,  in  modern  history 
a  Melbourne  Administration,  and  there  is 
therefore  no  reason  why  there  should  not  be 
a  Hartington  Ministry.  On  the  whole  the 
Marquis  of  Hartington  stands  higher  as  a 
politician  and  as  a  debater  than  did  Viscount 
Melbourne  at  the  time  he  was  called  upon  to 
succeed  Earl  Grey  at  the  Treasury.  But  the 
type  of  man  is  such  that  it  would  be  used  for 
the  making  of  Premiers  only  in  periods  of 
difficulty  similar  to  that  which  followed  on  the. 
retirement  of  Earl  Grey  in  1834. 

Entering  Parliament  in  his  twenty-fourth  year, 
the  eldest  son  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire  very 
soon  had  an  opening  made  for  him  on  the 
Treasury  Bench.  Successively  as  Lord  of 
the  Admiralty,  Under-Secretary  for  War, 
Secretary  of  State  for  War,  Postmaster - 
General,  and  Secretary  of  State  for  Ireland, 
he  has  had  a  wide  and  varied  experience  of 
official  administrative  duty.  Throughout  his 
career  he  has  never  said  a  striking  thing  and 
never  done  a  bold  one,  following  steadily  the 
beaten  path  of  official  life,  doing  thoroughly, 
intelligently,  and  well  the  thing  that  lay  to 
his  hand.  As  a  speaker  he  barely  succeeded 
in  commanding  the  attention  of  the  House 
when  his  official  position  made  his  words 

199 


Men   and  Manner  in  Parliament 

momentous.  Out  of  office  he  has,  perforce, 
grown  accustomed  to  speak  before  a  beggarly 
array  of  empty  benches.  He  invariably  takes 
a  common -sense  view  of  the  question  under 
discussion,  but  never  succeeds  in  making 
common  sense  attractive.  He  is  one  of  those 
men  with  respect  to  whom  it  is,  in  the  interest 
of  a  large  number  of  our  fellow -creatures,  a 
matter  of  regret  that  he  should  have  chanced 
to  arrogate  the  rare  position  in  life  of  a  duke's 
heir,  for  he  was  sure  to  have  earned  a  comfort- 
able living  had  he  been  born  in  circumstances 
that  would  have  thrown  him  entirely  on  his  own 
resources.  In  brief,  the  Marquis  of  Harting- 
ton  is  a  hard-working,  conscientious,  stolid 
man,  wearing  all  the  polish  he  is  capable  of 
receiving  from  high  education  and  social  inter- 
course, but  withal  somewhat  surly  in  manner, 
greatly  impressed  with  the  vast  gulf  that  is 
fixed  between  a  marquis  and  a  man  to  the 
despite  of  the  latter,  innocent  of  the  slightest 
spark  of  humour,  guiltless  of  gracefulness  of 
diction,  free  from  the  foibles  of  fanciful 
thought. 

All  these  points  appear  to  converge  upon 
the  conclusion  that  it  is  impossible  the 
Marquis  of  Hartington  should  become  Prime 
Minister,  and  the  appearance  is  not  deceptive. 

200 


Candidates  for  the  Leadership 

If  we  alter  the  way  of  putting  the  fact, 
and  instead  of,  as  we  do  in  the  case  of  the 
present  Government  and  did  in  respect  of  its 
predecessor,  talking  of  Mr.  Disraeli  as  Prime 
Minister  or  Mr.  Gladstone  as  Premier,  discuss 
the  probability  of  a  "  Hartington  Ministry," 
we  shall  see  that  the  thing  is  not  only  probable, 
but — supposing  the  House  of  Commons  is  to 
be  exclusively  considered  as  the  source  whence 
Mr.  Gladstone's  successor  in  the  Premiership 
is  to  be  drawn — that  it  even  recommends 
itself  as  a  happy  solution  of  the  difficulty. 
Such  a  Leader  as  is  here  sketched  possesses  a 
broad  bosom  of  respectable  mediocrity  upon 
which  a  dozen  heads  aching  with  jealousy  and 
burning  with  ambition  might  peacefully  repose. 
Mr.  Forster  would  not  consent  to  serve  under 
Mr.  Lowe,  and  Mr.  Lowe  would  scorn  to  hold 
office  under  Mr.  Forster.  Mr.  Goschen  and 
Mr.  Childers  are  as  Damon  and  Pythias  in 
friendly  counsel  and  co-operation  in  naval 
affairs ;  but  if  one  were  called  to  lead  the 
House  of  Commons  the  other  must  perforce 
be  passed  over,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to 
convince  him  that  the  selection  had  been  mjade 
wholly  in  accordance  with  that  principle  by 
the  rigid  adoption  of  which  the  world  has, 
according  to  Mr.  Darwin,  reached  'its  present 

201 


Men  and    Manner  in  Parliament 

state  of  perfection.  The  elevation  of  Lord 
Hartington  to  the  titular  Premiership  would 
leave  the  ambitious  youth  of  Mr.  Gladstone's 
Ministry  exactly  as  they  now  stand,  with  the 
exception  of  the  removal  of  the  figure  in 
whose  colossal  shadow  they  have  hitherto 
walked,  like  Gulliver's  companions  in  Lilliput. 
The  Marquis  of  Hartington  would  reign  but 
would  not  govern,  and  the  country  would  be 
blessed  and  fructified  by  the  flow  of  the  stream 
of  the  united  counsel  of  a  republic  of  great  men. 
I  have  hitherto  considered  the  question  of 
the  candidate  for  the  Leadership  of  the  Liberal 
party  as  if  the  House  of  Commons  were 
the  sole  resource  of  the  party.  That  course 
has  been  taken  in  deference  to  the  practice 
commonly  followed  in  similar  speculations. 
It  appears  obvious  that  if  the  necessity  for 
supplying  a  Liberal  Premier  were  to  arise 
to-morrow  it  would,  putting  Mr.  Gladstone  on 
one  side,  be  met  by  a  draft  on  the  House  of 
Lords.  Earl  Granville  is  perhaps  not  a  robust 
politician  ;  he  is,  possibly  for  that  reason, 
an  admirable  Leader  of  a  party.  During  a 
period  of  great  difficulty,  and  with  official 
cares  of  an  engrossing  character  on  his 
hands,  he  managed  so  to  manipulate  affairs 
in  the  House  of  Lords  that  only  on  the  rarest 

202 


Candidates  for  the  Leadership 

occasions  was  the  country  reminded  that  the 
Government  of  which  he  was  the  representative 
there  stood  in  a  hopeless  minority.  Suave  in 
manner,  firm  in  purpose,  intimate  with  men  and 
things  at  home  and  abroad,  schooled  in  diplo- 
macy, practised  in  administration,  popular  every- 
where, an  able  and  a  ready  speaker,  Earl  Gran- 
ville  is  a  man  who  would  unite  under  his  Leader- 
ship all  save  the  extremest  rank  of  the  Liberal 
party.  A  Ministry  formed  under  his  auspices 
would  be  broad-based  and  strong,  for  his  lord- 
ship is  a  man  without  animosities  and  without 
adversaries.  He  could  invite  whom  he  pleased 
to  take  office  with  him,  and  it  is  easy  to  imagine 
the  acidities  of  some  of  his  possible  colleagues 
finding  solution  in  the  imperturbable  good 
temper  and  tireless  geniality  of  the  Premier. 

In  The  Times  of  June  13,  1859,  there  is 
published  a  short  article  which  has  the  value 
and  the  authority  of  a  State  paper,  and  throws 
a  flood  ,of  light  on  the  grounds  for  Earl  Gran- 
ville's  special  suitability  for  the  office  of  Liberal 
Premier  when  Mr.  Gladstone  shall  have 
retired  from  the  scene.  Three  days  earlier  the 
short-lived  administration  of  Earl  Derby  had 
been  forced  to  resign  by  a  vote  of  want  of 
confidence.  As  the  Shah  tersely  puts  it  in  his 
Diary  of  his  visit  to  England,  '  When  the 

203 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

Tories  went  out  the  Vhigs  came  in."  At 
this  particular  juncture  a  difficulty  arose  on  the 
question  of  the  Premiership,  the  Queen  stand- 
ing undetermined  between  Lord  John  Russell 
and  Lord  Palmerston,  content  with  either  if  the 
other  were  away.  In  this  dilemma  Earl  Gran- 
ville  was  sent  for  and  asked  to  form  a 
Ministry. 

Some  surprise  being  expressed  in  political 
circles  at  this  selection,  his  lordship  freely 
communicated  to  his  friends  the  purport  of 
his  conversation  with  the  Queen,  and  finally 
The  Times  was  enabled  to  publish  it  in  the  fol- 
lowing form :  "  Her  Majesty,  after  listening 
to  all  the  objections  which  Lord  Granville  had 
to  offer,  commanded  him  to  attempt  to  form 
an  administration  which  should  at  once  be 
strong  in  ability  and  Parliamentary  influence, 
and  should  at  the  same  time  comprehend 
within  itself  a  full  and  fair  representation  of 
all  the  sections  into  which  the  Liberal  party 
has  notoriously  been  divided.  Feeling,  prob- 
ably, that  it  might  be  urged  as  an  objection 
to  this  course  that  Lord  Granville,  who  has 
never  yet  held  the  office  of  Prime  Minister, 
would  thus  be  placed  in  a  position  paramount 
to  that  occupied  by  Lord  Palmerston  and 
Lord  John  Russell,  each  of  whom  had  served 

204 


LORD   PALMERSTON. 
(1784-1865.) 


[To  face  p.  204. 


Candidates  for  the  Leadership 

her  long  and  faithfully  in  many  high  offices  of 
State,  and  had  each  filled  the  office  of  First 
Minister  of  the  Crown,  Her  Majesty  was 
pleased  to  observe  that  she  had  in  the  first 
instance  turned  her  thoughts  towards  Lord 
Palmerston  and  Lord  John  Russell.  Her 
Majesty  felt,  however,  that  to  make  so  marked 
a  distinction  as  is  implied  in  the  choice  of  one 
or  other  of  two  statesmen  so  full  of  years  and 
honours,  and  possessing  so  just  a  claim  on  the 
consideration  of,  the  Queen,  would  be  a  very 
invidious  and  unwelcome  task.  Her  Majesty 
also  observed  that  Lord  John  Russell  and  Lord 
Palmerston  appeared  to  represent  different  sec- 
tions of  the  Liberal  party ;  Lord  Palmerston 
the  more  Conservative,  and  Lord  John  Russell 
the  more  popular  section.  Impressed  with  these 
difficulties,  Her  Majesty  cast  her  eyes  on  Lord 
Granville,  the  acknowledged  Leader  of  the 
Liberal  party  in  the  House  of  Lords,  in  whom 
both  Lord  John  Russell  and  Lord  Palmerston 
had  been  in  the  habit  of  placing  confidence,  and 
who  might  have  greater  facilities  for  uniting  the 
whole  Liberal  party  under  one  administration 
than  could  be  enjoyed  by  either  of  the  sectional 
leaders." 

At    the     present    epoch    there    is     no     Lord 
John     Russell    and    no    Lord    Palmerston     to 

205 


Men  and    Manner  in  Parliament 

distract  Majesty  with  imperious  and  evenly 
balanced  claims  to  preferment.  The  reasons 
which  in  1859  caused  the  Queen  to  turn 
to  Earl  Granville  with  the  offer  of  the  Premier- 
ship would,  in  degree,  exist  upon  the  death  of' 
Mr.  Gladstone,  with  the  added  incentive  of  the 
Earl's  increased  weight  as  a  statesman,  and  his 
greater  personal  influence  amongst  the  party  of 
which  he  is  a  member. 

On  the  'Liberal  side  the  difficulty  in  finding 
a  successor  to  Mr.  Gladstone  would  be  not  in 
respect  of  his  position  as  Premier,  but  in  that 
of  his  office  as  Leader  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. To  state  the  truth  briefly,  there  is  no 
one  on  the  front  Opposition  Bench  who  has 
given  any  comforting  signs  of  capacity  worthily 
to  succeed  Mr.  Gladstone  in  this  depart- 
ment. Had  Mr.  Cardwell  remained  in  the 
Lower  House  the  difficulty  would  have  dis- 
appeared, and  with  him  as  Leader  there,  and 
Earl  Granville  as  Premier  directing  the  course 
of  business  "  in  another  place,"  the  founda- 
tions of  a  strong  Ministry  would  already  have 
been  laid.  Mr.  Cardwell  is  otherwise  dis- 
posed of,  and  come  when  the  necessity  may, 
the  new  Leader  of  the  Liberals  in  the  House 
of  Commons  will  probably  have  to  be  chosen 
from  among  the  half-dozen  men  whose  names 

206 


Candidates  for  the  Leadership 

have  been  mentioned.  This  being  so,  it  seems 
natural  that,  from1  his  political  weight,  Mr. 
Forster  should  be  selected.  It  is  not  impos- 
sible that  personal  considerations  already  hinted 
at  would  interfere  with  the  success  of  the  pro- 
posal., and  in  that  event  the  Leader  of  the  House 
of  Commons  will  be  the  Marquis  of  Hartington 
—on  the  whole  the  best  choice  that  poverty- 
stricken  circumstances  will  permit.1 

On  the  Conservative  side  the  question  of  a 
successor  to  the  Leadership  of  the  party  lies 
in  much  narrower  compass.  Here,  as  with 
the  Liberals,  there  is  only  one  possible  suc- 
cessor to  the  Premiership,  and  here  again,  that 
successor  being  a  peer,  there  arises  the  neces- 
sity for  the  nomination  of  a  Leader  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  The  position  Lord  Derby 
holds  in  the  State  affords  an  instance,  extremely 
rare,  of  an  English  politician  whose  reputation 
has  been  made  by  panegyrics  in  newspapers  and 
in  the  absence  of  any  foundation  adequate  to  the 
superstructure.  A  long  time  ago,  whilst  the 
Earl  was  still  Lord  Stanley,  he  made  a  speech 
somewhere  which  some  leading  newspaper 
eulogized  as  containing  "  a  common -sense  view 

1  Upon  Mr.  Gladstone's  resignation  in  1875  Lord 
Hartington  was  elected  Leader  of  the  Liberal  party 
in  the  House  of  Commons. 

207 


Men  and    Manner  in  Parliament 

of  the  question."  On  a  subsequent  occasion 
his  lordship  delivered  another  address  on  a 
different  subject  at  a  new  place,  and  three 
newspapers  simultaneously  published  leading 
articles,  in  which  it  was  remarked  that  "  Lord 
Stanley  had  taken  a  common -sense  view  of  the 
question."  Since  that  period  the  ball  thus  set 
rolling  has  gathered  impetus  and  bulk,  till 
to-day  the  morning  after  the  delivery  of  any 
speech  by  the  Earl  of  Derby  is  certain  to  be 
journalistically  marked  with  a  score  of  white 
chalks  pointing  out  that  here  at  last  we.  have 
"  the  common -sense  view  of  the  question." 
To  say  that  the  earth  is  round  when  it  is 
open  to  a  man  to  allege  that  it  is  flat  is 
obviously  to  take  a  common -sense  view  of  the 
question.  But  there  is  nothing  very  new  or 
helpful  in  the  assertion,  and  much  of  Lord 
Derby's  public  utterance  is  not  beyond  the 
charge  of  being  akin  to  this  sort  of  "  common 
sense."  It  will  be  remembered  what  an 
ecstasy  of  delight  we  were  all  thrown  into 
only  a  few  months  ago  when  his  lordship, 
addressing  a  Young  Men's  Association  in 
Lancashire,  told  the  enthralled  audience  to 
read  good  books,  to  be  industrious,  to  be 
moral,  and  to  take  care  of  their  health.  Here 
truly  was  "  the  common -sense  view  of  the 

208 


Candidates  for  the  Leadership 

question "  of  life,  and  though  upon  analysis 
we  seem  to  have  heard  or  read  it  all  before, 
we  are  none  the  less  conscious  of  the  Earl  of 
Derby's  claim  upon  our  admiration,  or  less 
profuse  in  our  applause  of  his  sterling  quali- 
ties. It  may  be  that  Lord  Derby  is  a  plain 
sort  of  a  man,  of  phlegmatical  temperament, 
gifted  with  a  full  average  measure  of  intelli- 
gence, cultivated  with  much  industry,  and 
applied  to  the  passing  events  of  the  day 
with  fairly  successful  issues.  Perhaps  the 
truth  about  him  may  be  found  in  the 
remark  Lord  Althorp  was  Wont  to  make 
with  respect  to  himself— "  Nature  intended 
me  to  be  a  grazier,  but  men  insist  upon  making 
me  a  statesman."  However  this  be,  the  Earl 
of  Derby  is  the  predestined  successor  of  his 
strangely  mated  friend  and  colleague  in  the 
titular  Leadership  of  any  future  Conservative 
Ministry. 

In  the  House  of  Commons  the  choice  of 
Leadership  of  the  Conservative  ranks  lies 
between  two  men,  Mr.  Gathome  Hardy  and 
Sir  Stafford  Northcote.  Either  would  acquit 
himself  well  by  comparison  with  possible 
Leaders  on  the  other  side.  There  is  a  wonder- 
fully wise  and  statesmanlike  air  about  Sir 
Stafford  Northcote  as  he  sits,  spectacled  and 

209  o 


Men  and    Manner  in  Parliament 

bearded,  on  the  Treasury  Bench,  which  of 
itself  would  go  a  long  way  towards  acquiring 
the  confidence  and  the  submission  of  the 
House.  But  the  right  hon.  baronet  is  not 
dependent  on  his  personal  aspect  alone  for  his 
claim  to  supremacy.  He  is  not  a  good 
speaker  but  he  is  a  ready  one,  sees  a  long  way 
through  a  question,  and  can,  if  need  be, 
cleverly  fence  with  it.  He  has  a  good  deal  of 
tact,  is  fair-minded,  honourable,  frank,  and 
at  very  long  intervals  displays  little  flashes  of 
humorous  perception  which  are  as  precious  as 
solitary  stars  twinkling  in  an  apparently  hope- 
lessly murky  sky.  He  is  always  listened  to 
with  that  respect  the  House  of  Commons  intui- 
tively feels  and  liberally  awards  to  any  man 
who  has  succeeded  in  convincing  it  that  he 
is  an  honest  and  a  clear  thinker,  and  thus 
he  personally  enjoys  the  confidence  of  both 
sides  of  the  House. 

Mr.  Gathorne  Hardy  is,  however,  the 
surer  of  the  reversion  of  Mr.  Disraeli's 
second  office,  because  he  alone  of  all 
the  candidates  has  a  following.  To  the 
country  gentlemen  the  Secretary  of  State  for 
War  is,  except  perhaps  in  his  views  on  the 
Regulation  of  Public  Worship,  as  nearly  as 
possible  the  model  of  what  a  Conservative 

210 


Candidates   for  the  Leadership 

Leader  should  be.  Mr.  Disraeli,  it  is  true, 
somehow  or  other  pilots  them  into  harbour 
when  the  sea  is  rough,  and  into  the  fair 
anchorage  of  power  when  winds  and  waves 
are  propitious.  But  they  cannot  understand 
how  he  does  it  and  are  vaguely  suspicious 
that,  however  it  be,  it  is  not  likely  to  have 
been  accomplished  on  really  sound  Conser- 
vative principles.  With  Mr.  Gathorne  Hardy 
the  case  is  different.  His  mind  is  not  so  far 
above  the  level  of  that  of  the  hereditary 
Conservative  that  its  method  of  working  may 
not  be  grasped  by  him  and  its  pro- 
cedure understood.  Mentally  he  is  so  far 
above  the  rank  and  file  that  the  principle  of 
Leadership  may  be  introduced,  yet  not  so 
far  that  the  idea  of  companionship  and  intel- 
ligent mutual  assistance  is  altogether  eliminated 
from  the  compact.  Mr.  Gathorne  Hardy  would 
make  a  most  acceptable  Leader  to  the  large 
majority  of  Conservative  members  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  and,  faute  de  mieux,  he  would  be 
fairly  popular  on  the  other  side.  Here,  as 
in  the  change  prognosticated  when  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's final  retirement  makes  room  for  a  suc- 
cessor, the  House  of  Commons  will  suffer  a 
grievous  loss,  genius  giving  place  to  clever 
mediocrity  and  facile  officialism. 

211 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE    SILENT    MEMBER 

Whilst  the  babbling  verse 
Of  the  vain  poet  frets  its  restless  way, 
In  stately  strength  the  sage's  mind  flows  on, 
Making  no  noise. 

BARRY  CORNWALL. 

IN  the  closing  sentences  of  his  speech  on  the 
second  reading  of  the  first  Reform  Bill,  intro- 
duced to  the  House  of  Commons  by  Lord 
John  Russell  in  1831,  Sir  Robert  Peel  impres- 
sively warned  the  House  to  "  take  care  that 
it  did  not  signalize  its  own  destruction  by 
bearing  down  the  pillars  of  the  edifice  of  its 
liberty,  which,  with  all  its  imperfections,  still 
contained  the  noblest  society  of  freemen 
known  to  the  habitable  world."  This  high 
encomium,  true  in  the  day  when  it  was 
spoken,  albeit  the  noble  owner  of  Gatton  (with 
its  constituency  of  five)  and  the  right  hon. 
proprietor  of  Wareham  (with  its  score  of  voters) 

212 


LORD   JOHN   RUSSELL. 
(1792-1878.) 

Painted  by  Sir  George  Hayter  :  engraved  by  James  Bromley  ;  published  1836. 


fTo  (ace  p. 


The  Silent  Member 

were  represented  in  the  Commons  House  of 
Parliament,  is  infinitely  more  true  at  the  present 
time.  Regarded  from  any  point  of  view  the 
House  of  Commons  has  not  its  equal  any- 
where as  a  legislative  assembly.  Its  com- 
position is  the  most  harmoniously  diverse,  its 
sense  of  honour  is  the  highest,  its  perception 
of  humour  the  keenest,  its  business  capacity 
the  largest,  its  collective  wisdom  approaches 
the  nearest  to  perfection,  its  purity  is  the  most 
stainless,  its  appreciation  of  native  talent  the 
quickest  and  most  generous,  and  its  instinct 
the  truest  of  any  of  its  compeers  through- 
out the  kingdoms  of  the  earth.  It  is  the 
one  British  Institution  which  no  Briton  need 
fear  to  vaunt,  since  foreigners  are  fore- 
most in  their  praise  and  are  united  in 
their  attempts  at  imitation.  Next  to  being 
the  Lord  Mayor  himself,  to  be  a  member  of 
Parliament  is,  as  Mr.  Mundella  can  testify, 
the  surest  passport  to  distinction  for  medi- 
ocrity travelling  on  the  Continent,  and  the 
simple  letters  "  M.P."  on  the  bearer's  card, 
even  though  the  bearer  be  Mr.  Mitchell  Henry, 
are  an  open  sesame  to  all  the  choicest  treasure- 
houses  that  lie  between  the  Ural  Mountains  and 
the  Bay  of  Biscay. 

This  is  a  high  tribute  paid  to  the  House  of 
213 


Men  and    Manner  in  Parliament 

Commons,  but  it  does  not  weigh  one  drachma 
beyond  the  just  due.  The  British  House  of 
Commons  is,  then,  incomparable.  Who  makes 
it  so  ?  It  is  not  the  Orator,  for,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  House  counts  but  two  in  all  its 
ranks.  It  can  scarcely  be  the  Official  Member, 
for  his  part  is  but  to  rough-hew  the 
ends  the  House  itself  shapes.  The  Inde- 
pendent Member,  though  one  of  the  peculiar 
institutions  of  the  assembly,  is  not  strong 
enough  or  sufficiently  united  to  account  for 
the  phenomenon.  It  is  not  the  Talker,  for  he 
is  a  weed  indigenous  to  all  legislative  assem- 
blies, be  they  called  Scaccarium,  Congress, 
Corps  Legislatif,  National  Assembly,  Cortes, 
Reichsrath,  or  what  not. 

There  remains  only  the  Silent  Member, 
and  we  are  forced  to  the  conclusion  that 
it  must  be  he.  Regarded  numerically  there 
is  reason  for  this  conclusion,  for  of  the 
653  members  who  sit  in  the  present  House 
of  Commons,  the  number  who  actually  carry 
on  the  debates,  and  whose  names  appear 
from  day  to  day  in  the  newspaper  reports,  do 
not  exceed  one  hundred.  Of  the  remain- 
ing 553  is  it  to  be  said  that  they  have  no 
influence  in  forming  the  character  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  and,  quite  apart  from 

214 


The  Silent  Member 

voting  power,  in  guiding  the  destinies  of  the 
Empire  ?  I  do  not  suppose  that  any  respon- 
sible person  would  adopt  that  view,  and  some, 
travelling  directly  in  the  opposite  direction, 
might  well  be  inclined'  to  glorify  the  inarticulate 
multitude  that  sit  night  after  night  on  the 
green  benches,  performing  the  great  work  of 
making  a  House,  cheering  their  own  cham- 
pions, and  calling  "  Vide  !  Vide  !  "  when  dis- 
tasteful persons  from  the  other  side  "  catch 
the  Speaker's  eye."  It  has  been  estimated  by 
a  high  authority  that  speech  is  silver  but 
silence  is  golden.  If  we  can  think  of  what 
the  House  of  Commons  would  be  without  the 
Silent  Member  we  shall  be  fain  to  admit  that 
the  aphorism  is  not  exaggerated. 

What  a  difference  there  would  be  in  the  speech 
of  Mr.  Gladstone,  Mr.  Bright,  and  Mr.  Disraeli 
supposing  the  Silent  Member  were  rooted  out  of 
the  House,  and  there  remained  only  the  Talk- 
ing Member,  ambitious,  restless,  eager  to  be 
on  his  legs  and  fill  the  chamber  with  the 
sound  of  a  voice  dearer  to  his  own  ears  than 
that  of  Demosthenes  would  have  been  had  the 
great  orator  lived  in  the  present  day  and 
represented  North  Shropshire.  We  owe  much 
to  the  Silent  Member,  even  from  this  point  of 
view.  Archimedes  was  never  able  to  carry 

215 


Men  and    Manner  in  Parliament 

out  his  cherished  design  of  moving  the  world 
out  of  its  orbit,  because,  though  he  was  pre- 
pared to  construct  a  lever  big  enough,  he 
could  never  find  a  fulcrum  on  which  to  rest  it. 
The  Silent  Member  is  the  fulcrum  by  which 
the  orators  of  the  House  of  Commons  move  the 
world,  and  he  claims  consideration  accordingly. 
Moreover,  it  is  no  proof  because  the  Silent 
Member  makes  no  speeches  that  therefore  he 
is  not  eloquent.  Hudibras  is  not  the  only 
distinguished  personage  who 

although  he  had  much  wit 
Was  very  shy  of  using  it. 

"  Quand  on  le  salt  faire  parler  il  est  admi- 
rable," wrote  Madame  de  Stae'l  of  Goethe 
after  having  visited  him  at  Weimar.  And 
possibly  it  is  the  same  with  the  Silent 
Member.  If  we  only  knew  how  to  make  him 
talk  he  would  excel  those  who,  like  the  great 
Talker  of  the  Parliament  that  with  hopeless 
desperation  kicked  against  the  pricks  of  the 
Reform  Bill,  contemptuously  twit  them  with 
their  taciturnity.  "  Does  the  hon.  member," 
said  Sir  Charles  Wetherell,  making  his  "  dying 
speech "  for  the  borough  of  Boroughbridge, 
which  had  a  prominent  place  in  Lord  John 
Russell's  index  expurgatorius,  "  who  cries 

216 


The  Silent  Member 

'  Hear,  hear '  and  '  Question/  and  says  nothing 
else,  never  affording  others  the  opportunity 
of  reciprocating  the  same  cries — does  the 
hon.  gentleman  behind  the  chair  suppose," 
etc.%  I  dare  say  the  hon.  member  referred  to 
shrank  further  back  behind  the  Speaker's 
chair,  and  it  is  certain  that  the  boisterous 
baronet  enjoyed  a  momentary  triumph.  But 
had  not  natural  modesty  prevailed,  "  the  hon. 
gentleman  behind  the  chair "  might  have 
accepted  the  implied  challenge  to  controversy 
and  been  able  to  show  that  if,  truly,  he  did 
not  talk  much  he,  like  the  sailor's  parrot, 
thought  the  more,  and  was  a  prime  mover  in  a 
great  assembly.  , 

At  least,  he  might  hear  with  equanimity 
the  reproaches  of  the  hon.  baronet  who 
said  a  great  deal,  and  whom  Mr.  Greville 
has  in  a  few  lines  sketched  for  us  in  his 
Memoirs.  '  The  anti-Catholic  papers  and  men 
lavish  the  most  extravagant  encomiums  on 
Wetherell's  speech,"  writes  Mr.  Greville,  "  and 
call  it  '  the  finest  oration  ever  delivered  in  the 
House  of  Commons,'  '  the  best  since  the  second 
Philippic.'  He  was  drunk,  they  say.  The 
Speaker  said  '  the  only  lucid  interval  he  had 
was  that  between  his  waistcoat  and  his  breeches.' 
When  he  speaks  he  unbuttons  his  braces,  and 

217 


Men   and   Manner  in  Parliament 

in  his  vehement  action  his  breeches  fall  down 
and  his  waistcoat  runs  up,  so  that  there  is  a 
great  interregnum."  A  charming  glimpse  this 
of  Men  and  Mariner  in  the  Parliament  to  which 
Lord  John  Russell  introduced  his  Reform  Bill. 

There  is  no  phrase  in  more  common  use  in 
Parliament  than  "  the  House."  '  The  House 
will  remember,"  "  if  the  House  thinks  proper," 
"  the  House  will  now  adjourn,"  the  House  will 
do  this  and  the  House  will  do  that — tou jours  the 
House.  What  is  "The  House?"  The  House 
is,  I  venture  to  affirm,  the  estimable  gentleman 
who  comes  down  to  Palace  Yard  with  unvary- 
ing regularity,  generally  in  the  family  carriage, 
and  not  unfrequently  accompanied  by  female 
members  of  his  family,  of  whose  agreement  with 
the  main  argument  of  this  chapter  I  am  at 
least  assured.  He  is  either  the  scion  of  some 
ennobled  race  or  a  successful  tradesman  or 
merchant.  Regarding  the  House  of  Commons 
in  the  conventional  light  of  an  assembly  of  the 
select  of  a  great  people,  the  Silent  Member  in 
moments  of  frankness  sometimes  poses  himself 
with  the  historical  question  which  troubled  the 
great  King  George  III  when  he  discovered  the 
apple  in  the  centre  of  the  dumpling.  "  How 
did  he  get  there  ? "  The  question  is  one 
which,  to  answer  fully,  would  demand  a 

218 


The  Silent  Member 

review  of  the  state  of  English  society  not  to  be 
'compassed  within  the  limits  of  a  single  volume. 
Sufficient  that  he  is  there,  and  satisfactory  that 
he  does  his  duty  manfully  and  with  a  stoical 
disregard  of  the  mental  toil  and  personal  incon- 
venience entailed  upon  him.  Parliamentary 
honour  has  its  duties  as  well  as  its  privileges,* 
and  the  Silent  Member  is  not  the  man  to  shirk 
them.  The  Whip  finds  no  more  reliable  cor- 
respondent than  he.  He  will  leave  the  most 
charming  after-dinner  society  to  hurry  down  to 
the  House  and  vote  with  his  party  on  a  great 
division. 

On  small  questions  of  Committee  he  is 
equally  useful.  From  the  smoke-room,  from 
the  tea-room',  from  the  dining-hall,  from  the 
library,  from  the  pleasant  terrace  facing  the 
river  where  he  can  sit  on  summer  evenings  and 
•watch  the  stately  coal  barges  go  up  to  their 
haven  at  Fulham  Creek,  the  Silent  Member 
comes  trooping  at  the  sound  of  the  division 
bell,  and  blocks  up  the  bar,  waiting  for  the 
signal— "  Ayes  to  the  right,  noes  to  the  left. 
Tellers  for  the  ayes,  Mr.  Black  and  Mr. 
Yellow ;  tellers  for  the  noes,  Mr.  White  and 
Mr.  Blue."  What  is  the  question  upon  which 
the  Committee  are  going  to  divide?  Perhaps 
some  intricate  matter  of  detail  in  a  Land 

219 


Men  and    Manner  in  Parliament 

Transfer  Bill,  of  the  bearings  of  which  the 
Silent  Member,  fresh  from  the  terrace  or  the 
tea-room,  knows  no  more  than  the  bargee  he 
has  been  watching  through  the  blue  whiffs  of 
smoke  that  languidly  rose  from  his  cigar  ;  pos- 
sibly on  an  abstruse  question  of  procedure  under 
a  Judicature  Act,  the  ramifications  of  which  are 
to  be  mastered  by  the  non -professional  mind 
only  at  an  expenditure  of  much  thought. 
'Happily  for  the  Silent  Member  he  is  not  called 
upon  to  form  an  opinion  on  the  subject,  or 
even  to  know  what  the  division  is  about.  His 
duty  is  to  follow  Black  and  Yellow  or  White 
and  Blue  into  the  lobby,  record  his  vote,  and 
go  back  to  the  terrace  to  finish  his  cigar  and 
wait  till  the  tintinnabulation  of  the  division  bell 
once  more  calls  him  to  arise  and  save  the  State. 
Nearer  midnight  the  Silent  Member  often 
becomes  enthusiastic,  sometimes  even  vocal, 
though,  as  in  Sir  Charles  Wetherell's  day,  his 
vocabulary  of  speech  is  limited.  "  Hear " 
and  "  Question,"  with  an  exceptional  burst  of 
cockcrowing,  occasional  cries  of  "  Order," 
and  one  final  roar  of  "  Divide  !  "  comprehend 
its  full  volume.  Those  crises  of  political  history 
when  it  is  necessary  to  arrest  at  a  certain  hour 
of  the  night  the  further  progress  of  a  party 
measure,  or  to  hasten  on  a  division  after  the 

220 


The  Silent  Member 

leaders  have  delivered  their  souls,  are  the  Water- 
loo of  the  Silent  Member.  He  has  turned  up 
religiously  precise  at  prayers,  and  has  secured 
a  comfortable  and  commanding  seat.  He  has 
stayed  through  the  question  time  and  the  open- 
ing of  the  debate,  just  as  the  flaneur  of  the 
boulevards  sips  his  glass  of  absinthe  before 
going  to  dinner.  Then  he  dines  leisurely,  leav- 
ing the  House  of  Commons  from  seven  to  nine 
an  abandoned  place,  on  the  desert  air  of  which 
the  Talker  wastes  his  eloquence.  At  nine  the 
Silent  Member  returns  with  a  toothpick  and  in 
a  condition  of  good  humour  with  himself  and 
all  the  world.  About  half -past  nine  the  higher 
class  of  Talkers  who  can  keep  an  audience 
together  begin  to  show  themselves,  and  the 
debate  grows  exciting. 

In  the  days  before  Achilles  sulked  in 
his  tent,  when  he  was  at  the  head  of 
an  ever-victorious  phalanx,  Mr.  Disraeli  was 
wont  to  rise  from  the  front  Opposition 
Bench  about  eleven  o'clock,  and  for  the 
hour  or  so  over  which  his  harangue  ex- 
tended there  was  much  pleasurable  excitement 
for  the  Silent  Member,,  culminating  when  Mr. 
Gladstone  sprang  up  impulsively  and,  breath- 
ing fire  and  flashing  brand,  set  himself  to  the 
task  of  repelling  assault  and  advancing  to  cer- 

221 


Men  and    Manner  in  Parliament 

tain  victory.  It  seemed  a  special  providence 
that  the  rival  leaders  of  party  should  be,  men 
of  such  diametrically  opposed  temperament, 
and  that  a  feast  so  spiced  with  variety  should 
be  provided  for  the  delectation  of  the  connois- 
seur. An  artificial,  highly-polished,  keenly- 
sharpened,  epigrammatic,,  terse,  unemptional 
style  that  of  Mr.  Disraeli ;  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  Mr.  Gladstone,  trembling  through 
every  fibre  with  the  quick  hot  rush  of  passion, 
glowing  and  copious  in  language,  luxuriant 
in  fancy,  fervid  in  conviction,  often  beside 
himself  with  righteous  rage — surely  this  was  a 
dainty  dish  to  set  before  the  Silent  Member, 
better  than  theatre,  opera,  waltz,  or  whist. 
Finally  arrives  the  moment  when  he,  always 
a  latent  power  in  the  House,  demonstrates 
his  supremity.  Some  obstinate  Talker  who 
has  carefully  prepared  his  speech  and  has 
found  no  previous  opening  for  its  delivery, 
presents  himself,  and  gets  as  far  as  "  Sir." 
Perhaps  it  is  Mr.  Goldney ;  it  is  not  unlikely 
to  be  Mr.  Whitwell ;  and  it  may  be  Mr. 
Wheelhouse.  Thereupon  arises  a  roar  such  as 
is  elsewhere  heard  only  in  the  French  National 
Assembly  when  M.  Gambetta  delicately  dis- 
tinguishes as  "  miser  able  s  "  persons  who 
happen  to  differ  from  him  upon  particular 

222 


The  Silent  Member 

processes  of  usurping  supreme  and  personal 
government  over  the  people  of  France.  This 
is  the  Silent  Member  become  vocal,  and  as  his 
stock  of  voice  power  is  unimpaired  by  lavish 
use,  the  stubborn  Talker  attempts  in  vain  to 
make  headway  against  the  angry  torrent.  The 
Talker  is  but  one,  and  the  Silent  Member  counts 
by  the  score.  In  the  end  he  sits  down  hoarse 
and  heartbroken,  for  not  a  word  he  has  uttered 
has  reached  the  Press  Gallery,  and  the  world 
is  bereaved  of  his  counsel. 

On  occasions  when  the  object  in  view  is 
temporarily  to  stay  the  progress  of  a  measure 
or  to  obtain  the  adjournment  of  a  debate,  the 
Silent  Member  rises  to  still  greater  heights  of 
heroism,  and  'shows  that  when  need  be  he  can 
do  more  than  shout  "  Divide !  "  Incidental 
reference  has  been  made  in  preceding  chapters 
to  alternate  motions  that  "  the  House  do  now 
adjourn,"  and  that  "  this  debate  be  adjourned." 
It  may  be  useful  to  explain  that,  according  to 
the  forms  of  the  House,  an  hon.  member  may 
at  any  stage  of  a  debate  move  its  adjournment, 
discussion  may  thereupon  take  place,  and  if 
the  motion  be  opposed  a  division  will  be  called. 
The  division  accomplished  and  the  figures  an- 
nounced, another  hon.  member  may  straight- 
way get  up  and  move  the  adjournment  of  the 

223 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

House  :  whereupon  will  follow  a  second  divi- 
sion, to  be  succeeded  by  others  on  alternate 
motions  for  the  adjournment  of  the  debate  and 
the  adjournment  of  the  House,  the  only  limit  to 
the  number  being  the  strength  of  the  minority 
and  the  obstinacy  of  the  majority.  During 
the  debates  on  the  Reform  Bill  of  1831,  the 
tactics  of  the  Opposition  being  to  delay  the 
measure,  the  House  divided  seven  times  on 
the  alternate  .motions,  there  being  debates  on 
each,  and  the  battle,  commencing  at  midnight, 
closed  at  half -past  seven  on  the  following 
morning  with  a  victory  for  the  minority.  In 
the  Session  of  1869  a  struggle  only  less 
desperate  arose  in  connection  with  Mr.  New- 
degate's  motion  for  an  inquiry  into  monastic 
institutions,  the  House  adjourning  at  five 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  sun  of  a  summer's 
day  having  for  nearly  two  hours  been  shining 
through  the  casements  on  the  brave  but  pallid 
and  heavy-eyed  representatives  of  a  people 
who,  as  Napoleon  I  petulantly  said,  never 
know  when  they  are  beaten.  The  hero  of 
these  fights,  as  of  many  others,  was  the 
Silent  Member,  who  stubbornly  remained  at 
his  post  and  "  saw  the  thing  out  "  whilst  the 
more  brilliant  Orator  and  the  busy  Talker 
were  lapped  in  slumber. 


The  Silent  Member 

This  is,  however,  only  one  phase,  and  that 
obviously  not  the  highest,  of  the  character  of 
the  Silent  Member.  Some  of  the  best  known, 
most  highly  valued,  and  most  useful  members 
of  the  House  never  make  a  speech  and  rarely 
even  throw  in  an  observation  in  debate. 
Their  influence  is  nevertheless  felt,  for  others 
speak  the  thoughts  of  which  they  can  make 
communication  freely  enough  in  private  con- 
versation, though  tongue-tied  in  the  presence 
of  an  assembly  met  together  for  the  distinct 
purpose  of  debate.  These  men  are  able 
advisers  in  the  task  of  drawing  up  a  Bill, 
or  in  the  work  of  Select  Committees.  After  a 
late  sitting  of  the  House  they  are  to  be  found 
at  noon  in  the  committee -room  upstairs, 
hearing  and  weighing  evidence,  preparing 
reports  upon  which  great  Acts  of  Parliament 
shall  be  passed.  At  half -past  four  o'clock  they 
are  once  more  in  their  places  in  the  House, 
ready  and  watchful  in  the  service  of  their 
country.  !  i 

It  is  a  great  thing  for  a  nation  that  a  body 
of  men  such  as  that  which  sits  in  St.  Stephen's 
should  be  found  willing  to  devote  itself,  for 
the  most  part  without  money  payment,  to  the 
guidance  of  the  affairs  of  the  Empire.  When 
the  colourless  glass  of  the  unprejudiced  ob- 

225  P 


Men  and    Manner  in  Parliament 

server  is  levelled  at  individuals  there  is,  as 
we  have  seen,  much  imperfection  of  various 
kinds.  Take  it  for  all  in  all  the  House  of 
Commons  is  what  Mr.  Gladstone  in  tones  of 
generous  pride  called  it  when  addressing  it  on 
the  Public  Worship  Regulation  Bill,  "  the 
greatest  deliberative  assembly  in  the  world." 
If  we  analyse  the  sources  of  this  greatness  we. 
shall,  I  venture  to  believe,  find  a  chief  one  in 
its  abundant  store  of  human  nature.  Dryden's 
lines  describe  at  once  its  power  and  its  charm' 
of  absorbing  and  ever  fresh  interest.  It  is  an 
assemblage  of  a  character 

so  various  that  it  seems  to  be 
Not  one  but  all  mankind's  epitome. 

If  a  personal  criticism  which,  if  sometimes 
apparently  harsh  and  possibly  often  faulty,  has 
always  been  honest  in  intention,  has  had  the 
effect  of  throwing  into  high  relief  some  evi- 
dences of  dullness,  verbosity,  and  vanity,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  the  House  of 
Commons  is  a  representative  assembly  not  of 
gods  but  of  men,  and  that  men  are  sometimes 
vain,  verbose,  and  dull.  Is  it  not  some- 
thing to  be  proud  of  that  not  a  breath  can 
be  whispered  against  the  personal  honour  of 
members,  and  that  those  amongst  us  freest 

226 


The  Silent  Member 

from  taint  of  sycophancy,  and  constitutionally 
incapable  of  reverence  for  any  particular 
groupings  of  the  alphabet  regarded  as  mere 
groupings,,  take  off  their  hats  and  salute  the 
House  of  Commons  as  the  highest  model  of 
the  true  gentleman  anywhere  to  be  found? 
It  is,  like  all  other  human  assemblies,  built  of 
clay.  But  the  closer  our  study  of  its  Men,  the 
more  intimate  our  acquaintance  with  its  Manner, 
the  readier  is  our  acknowledgment  that  the 
particular  kind  used  in  its  construction  is 

The  porcelain  clay  of  human  kind. 


227 


CHAPTER  VIII 
FALLEN    OUT    OF    THE    RANKS 

The  Flowers  of  the  Forest  are  a'  wede  away. 

Lament  for  Flodden. 

THE  Parliament  whose  birth  dates  from  the 
spring  of  1874  is  still  in  its  earliest  infancy, 
and  has  its  history  to  make.  Called  together 
in  unexpected  manner,  it  seemed  for  a  space 
dazed  into  a  state  of  quietude.  For  some 
months  of  the  past  Session  affairs  progressed 
with  a  tame  regularity,  and  a  forbearance  of 
party  spirit  unknown  since  the  last  years  of  the 
premiership  of  Lord  Palmerston.  Reversing 
the  proverbial  order  of  the  progress  of  the 
month  of  March,  the  Session,  coming  in  like  a 
lamb,  went  out  like  a  lion.  For  brilliancy 
of  debate  and  excitement  of  situation,  the  last 
weeks  of  the  first  Session,  dating  from  the 
introduction  of  the  Regulation  of  Public 

228 


Fallen  Out  of  the  Ranks 

Worship  Bill,  wilt  bear  comparison  with  any 
but  the  nationally  critical  epochs  of  precedent 
Parliaments . 

This  varied  condition  of  affairs  has  been 
singularly  favourable  for  studying  men  and 
manner  in  Parliament,  having  afforded  oppor- 
tunities for  all  classes  of  members  to  come  to 
the  front  and  parade.  There  have  been  times 
when  in  the  midst  of  the  arrayed  hosts 
Mamilius  has  encountered  Herminius  and 

All  round  them  paused  the  battle, 

whilst  one  "  laid  on  for  Tusculum  "  and  the  other 
championed  Rome.  And  there  have  been  long 
seasons  when  Mamilius  has  been  cutting  down 
trees  or  grafting  rose-buds  in  his  garden  at 
Tusculum,  and  Herminius  has  been  sitting  with 
folded  arms  and  downcast  head,  apparently 
asleep  on  the  Treasury  Bench  which  in  these 
modern  times  represents  "  the  bridge  he  kept 
so  well,"  and  when  need  were  attacked  so  well, 
in  the  brave  days  of  old.  On  these  occasions 
less  distinguished  men  have  found  and  made 
the  most  of  the  opportunity  for  moving  Parlia- 
ment. Bystanders,  having  eyes  to  see  and 
ears  to  hear,  have  been  able  to  judge  what  store 
of  talent  of  the  State -saving  order  England  had 
in  reserve  for  use  when  those  who  are  now 

229 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

responsible  for  the  government  of  the  country 
shall  have  finished  their  work. 

Further,  the  first  Session  of  the  Parlia- 
ment of  1874  was  peculiarly  favourable  to 
the  performance  of  the  task  here  modestly 
undertaken,  because  the  shifting  of  the 
political  barometer  had  resulted  in  a  complete 
revolution  of  position  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
Men  who  for  years  sat  on  the  right-hand 
side  of  the  Speaker  were  fain  to  establish  them- 
selves on  his  left ;  whilst  the  familiar  forms  on 
the  left  rose  and  crossed  over  to  fill  the  favoured 
seats  opposite.  Ministers  accustomed  to  carry 
the  official  manner  were  compelled  suddenly  to 
practise  the  tone  and  follow  the  train  of  thought 
of  men  in  Opposition,  whilst  the  party 
who  had  been  growing  grey  in  the  attacking 
ranks,  assumed  the  defensive  and  essayed  to 
create  where  once  it  had  been  their  function  to 
criticize.  Under  these  circumstances  manner  has 
been  tried  under  new  conditions,  and  men, 
waking  up  from  the  humdrum  pace  into  which 
they  had  fallen  in  the  latter  months  of  the  five- 
year  old  assembly,  have  gained  a  new  lease  of 
energy,  inspired  by  fresh  impulses  and  new 
opportunities. 

It  will  be  well,  however,  before  we  proceed 
to  study  the  various  phases  of  character  pre- 

230 


Fallen  Out  of  the  Ranks 

sented  by  the  new  Parliament,  to  reckon  up 
the  principal  losses  sustained  in  the  course  of 
its  election.  These  were,  from  various  points 
of  view,  decidedly  notable,  few  general  elections 
since  that  which  followed  on  the  passing  of  the 
Reform  Act  of  1832  having  effected  so  great 
a  clearance  of  faces  familiar  to  the  Sergeant  - 
at -Arms. 

Of  course,  in  an  assembly  renovated  to  the 
extent  of  nearly  one -fourth  its  bulk,  some  of 
the  more  prominent  of  the  rank  and  file  must 
go.  A  peculiarity  of  the  new  Parliament  is 
that  entrance  to  it  was  refused  to  some  who 
had  stood  the  test  of  many  elections,  and  who 
sat  in  Parliament  whilst  the  generation  which 
rejected  them  was  in  its  cradle.  The  case  of 
Sir  John  Pakington  is  one  in  point.  For 
nearly  thirty  years  the  venerable  baronet 
sat  for  Droitwich,  beating  off  would-be  rivals 
in  a  manner  that  was  not  triumphant  only 
because  it  was  effected  with  ridiculous  ease. 
If  before  the  dissolution  one  not  intimately, 
acquainted  with  local  politics  at  Droitwich  had 
been  asked  to  name  half  a  dozen  members  whose 
return  was  under  any  circumstances  certain,  Sir 
John  Pakington  would  doubtless  have  been  one 
of  the  first  three.  It  would  have  been  as  easy 
ten  years  ago  to  have  thought  of  Tiverton  apart 

231 


Men  and    Manner  in  Parliament 

from  Lord  Palmerston  as  it  was  in  January, 
1874,  to  meditate  upon  Droitwich  without  Sir 
John  Pakington  as  its  Parliamentary  repre- 
sentative. As  for  the  right  hon.  baronet 
himself,  it  must  have  been  with  him  and  the 
Worcestershire  borough  as  it  was  with  Coleridge 
and  his  youth  : — 

O  Youth  !  for  years  so  many  and  sweet, 
Tis  known  that  thou  and  I  were  one  ; 

I'll  think  it  but  a  fond  conceit — 
It  cannot  be  that  thou  art  gone  ! 

Droitwich  did  go,  however ;  and  at  an  epoch 
that  made  the  severance  the  more  cruel.  Sir 
John  Pakington  had  never  been  the  Moses  of 
the  Conservative  party  in  its  long  sojourn  in 
the  wilderness  of  Opposition  ;  but  he  had  at 
least  been  as  one  of  the  "  able  men "  whom 
the  Lawgiver  called  to  his  aid  at  the  suggestion 
of  Jethro.  It  seemed  hard,  just  when  the 
Promised  Land  was  in  sight,  and  when  his 
'Colleagues  were  marching  in  to  take  possession, 
that  Droitwich  should  forsake  him  for  a  Mr. 
Corbett.  He  had  long  ceased  to  be  of  much 
account  in  a  House  of  Commons  many  of  the 
members  of  which  were  at  school  whilst  he  was 
administering  the  affairs  of  the  Colonies.  But 
he  was  always  regarded  with  a  feeling  of  kindli- 

232 


Fallen  Out  of  the  Ranks 

ness  that  did  credit  to  the  hearts  of  hon. 
members.  It  is  true  that  they  would  not  stay 
to  listen  to  his  critical  meande,rings  through  the 
statements  of  Mr.  Cardwell ;  but  short  of  that, 
which  was  perhaps  too  much  to  expect,  Sir  John 
Pakington  was,  during  the  closing  years  of  his 
career  in  the  House,  treated  with  a  consideration 
which  English  gentlemen  are,  happily,  always 
ready  to  pay  to  mediocrity  when  it  is  well  off, 
is  highly  connected,  and  can  express  its  absence 
of  ideas  without  violation  of  the  rules  of 
grammar  or  the  principles  of  accent. 

It  is  a  reflection  that  probably  struck  home  to 
some  hearts  when  the  result  of  the  election  at 
GDroitwich  was  flashed  through  the  country,  that 
on  the  very  last  occasion  Sir  John  Pakington 
played  a  leading  part  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons there  were  only  seven  members  present— 
of  whom  the  Secretary  of  State  for  War  was 
not  one— and,  the  right  hon.  baronet  declining1 
to  proceed  with  his  criticisms  of  the  Estimates- 
in  the  absence  of  their  author,  Mr.  Cardwell 
had  to  be  fetched  in  from  his  dinner.  Indeed; 
Sir  John  Pakington's  Parliamentary  speeches 
had  of  late  years  distinctly  assumed  the  shape 
of  friendly  conversation  across  the  table  with 
iMr.  Cardwell,  the  audience  being  composed 
chiefly  of  the  Speaker,  the  Sergeant-at-Arms, 

233 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

and  the  gentlemen  in  the  Press  Gallery.  It 
will  hence  be  well  understood  that  the  dis- 
turbance effected  on  the  occasion  referred  to 
in  Mr.  Cardwell's  private  arrangements  was 
essential  to  the  progress  of  the  projected  speech. 
If  Mr.  Cardwell  was  inconvenienced,  no  one 
would  regret  it  more  than  Sir  John  Pakington, 
for  he  is  above  all  things  a  gentleman.  His 
Toryism  was  as  unimpeachable  as  that  of 
Colonel  Stuart  Knox,  for  example  ;  but  he  had 
a  way  of  dealing  with  his  political  oppo- 
nents altogether  different  from  that  which  it 
occurred  to  Colonel  Stuart  Knox  to  adopt  as 
being  polite  and  effective.  A  certain  simplicity 
of  mind,  combined  with  an  amusing  weightiness 
of  manner,  would  have  made  Sir  John  an 
interesting  speaker  if  he  had  not  been  insupport- 
ably  prolix.  As  a  man  of  action  he  may  have 
done  credit  to  the  Worcestershire  Yeomanry 
Cavalry,  of  which  he  is  the  lieutenant -colonel ; 
but  he  was,  on  the  whole,  a  failure  as  Minister 
of  War,  and  was  not  a  success  as  First  Lord 
of  the  Admiralty.  Yet  the  mere  fact  that  in 
a  single  year  he  held  those  offices  in  succession 
proves — if  we  avoid  the  conclusion  that  Mr. 
Disraeli  was  at  the  juncture  fatally  hard  up  for 
lieutenants — that  Sir  John  Pakington  is  an 
administrator  of  more  than  average  capacity ; 

234 


Fallen  Out  of  the  Ranks 

and  it  gives  a  deeper  tinge  to  the  glow  of 
satisfaction  with  which  we  regard  the  still  active 
septuagenarian  seated  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
thinly  disguised  under  the  title  of  Baron 
Hampton. 

It  is  a  safe  assertion  that  the  House  of 
Commons  regarded  the  loss  of  Sir  John 
Pakington  as  heavier  to  bear  than  that  which 
the  Tower  Hamlets  inflicted  upon  it  by  the 
rustication  of  a  Minister  from  the  other  side 
of  the  House  who  is  best  known  in  connection 
with  his  direction  of  the  Board  of  Works  in 
Mr.  Gladstone's  Ministry.  The  Right  Hon. 
Acton  Smee  Ayrton  at  one  time  occupied  the 
distinguished  position  of  the  most  thoroughly 
disliked  member  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
In  the  last  year  of  the  old  Parliament,  Mr. 
Lowe  deposed  him  from  this  eminence,  and 
Mr.  Ward  Hunt  unwittingly  did  much  to 
advance  him  in  public  esteem  by  his  reference 
to  the  rumour  that  the  Commissioner  of  Works 
and  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  were  "  not 
on  speaking  terms."  But  at  best  Mr.  Ayrton 
retired  from  the  House  amid  a  general  chorus 
of  congratulation.  It  is  a  pity,  for  he  is  of 
the  stuff  of  which  able  Ministers  are  made.  As 
a  debater  he  stood  high,  and  in  fact  it  was  to 
the  exhibition  of  his  skill  in  debate,  so  dangerous 

235 


Men  and  Manner   in  Parliament 

to  the  Prime  Minister  when  exercised  from 
below  the  gangway,  that  he  owed  his 
advancement. 

Like  Mr.  Lowe,  Mr.  Vernon  Harcourt, 
Mr.  Henry  James,  and  many  others,  he  made 
himself  so  excessively  disagreeable  as  an 
independent  member  that  when  Mr.  Glad- 
stone took  office  in  1868,  he  installed  him 
in  the  Parliamentary  Secretaryship  to  the 
Treasury,  whence  his  advance  to  the  Chief  Com- 
missionership  of  Works  was  rapid.  The  House 
of  Commons  was  not  slow  to  complain  of 
the  insolence  he  speedily  began  to  show  in 
this  last  office ;  but  it  is  only  fair  to  point 
out  that  the  House  was  itself  chiefly  re- 
sponsible for  the  phenomenon.  It  is  long 
enough  ago  to  be  forgotten  that  one  of  the 
chief  delights  of  hon.  members  in  that  fresh, 
cheerful  hour  that  follows  the  saying  of  prayers 
was  to  hear  the  Chief  Commissioner  of  Works 
snub  courageous  querists.  If  there  was  a 
question  on  the  paper  for  the  answering  of  Mr. 
Ayrton,  the  right  hon.  gentleman's  rising  was 
anticipated  just  as  at  a  circus  the  entrance  of 
a  favourite  clown  is  looked  for  when  the  horse- 
riding  is  growing  monotonous  and  the  gymnasts 
tedious.  When  he  rose  to  reply,  it  was  well 
understood  that  he  was  expected  to  say  some- 

236 


thing  pert,  arid  to  do  him  justice,  he  seldom'  fell 
short  of  the  anticipation. 

The  capacity  for  uttering  brief,  sharp,  sting- 
ing replies  that  answered  nothing  was  his 
speciality,  and  he  laid  himself  out  to  keep  up 
his  character.  The  House  cheered  him  if  he 
were  up  to  the  average,  and  if  by  a  happy 
chance  he  went  beyond  it  the  House  roared 
with  approving  laughter,  and  "  Ayrton's  last " 
was  chuckled  over  in  all  the  lobbies.  In  course 
of  time  the  novelty  of  the  thing  wore  off.  It 
became  the  fashion  to  abuse  him,  and  his 
struggles  after  a  prolongation  of  popularity 
by  the  old  arts  only  furnished  texts  for  fresh 
protests  against  what  had  now  come  to  be 
regarded  as  his  "  boorishness."  This  is  too  bad. 
But  Mr.  Ayrton  is  a  man  upon  whom  pity  were 
wasted.  In  his  ostracism  he  has  doubtless  been 
supported  by  a  sublime  consciousness  of 
personal  superiority  over  his  detractors  not 
altogether  without  foundation.  He  is  a  better 
man  than  nine -tenths  of  the  crowd  that 
had  been  yelling  at  his  heels  for  the  two  years 
preceding  the  dissolution  of  the  Parliament  of 
1868,,  and  if  he  has  the  wisdom  to  profit  by 
the  lesson  of  his  early  failure  he  will  at  no 
distant  date  prove  his  superiority. 

As  a  departmental  officer  he  was  far  more 
237 


Men  and   Manner   in   Parliament 

successful  than  the  glamour  thrown  around 
his  administration  by  his  framing  of  Park 
Acts  and  his  dealings  with  Kevv  Gardens 
will  allow  a  partially  informed  public  to 
perceive.  As  a  speaker  he  always  brought 
to  the  debate  strong  common  sense,  a 
logical  arrangement  of  ideas,  and  a  power 
of  felicitous  expression,  lightened  up  by 
flashes  of  wit  and  biting  satire.  His  defence 
of  his  conduct  when  arraigned  in  1873  by  Mr. 
Vernon  Harcourt  was  a  masterpiece  of  straight- 
forward cut  and  thrust  oratory,  of  which  it 
does  not  need  to  say  more  than  that,  rising 
amid  a  freezing  silence,  he  sat  down  under  a 
storm  of  cheers.  There  prevailed  a  general 
impression  that,  whilst  of  the  two  speakers  one 
certainly  had  been  shown  to  deserve  universal 
reprobation,  it  was  not  Mr.  Ayrton. 

Two  old  and  prominent  members  were  lost 
to  the  House  of  Commons  in  Mr.  Bernal 
Osborne  and  Mr.  Bouverie.  The  former  enjoyed 
a  special  reputation  in  the  House  which  an  hon. 
member  once  referred  to  by  speaking  of  him 
as  "  the  chartered  libertine  of  debate."  On  the 
following  morning  this  phrase  appeared  in  the 
Parliamentary  report  of  a  leading  Liberal 
journal  as  the  "  shattered  libertine  of  debate." 
This  rendering  was  of  course  due  to  a  typo- 

238 


Fallen  Out  of  the  Ranks 

graphical  error,  but  it  could  scarcely  have  been 
happier  had  it  been  carefully  designed  by  a  suc- 
cessful coiner  of  epigrams.  For  many  years 
'Mr.  Osborne  occupied  the  honourable  position 
of  chief  jester  to  the  House  of  Commons.  In 
the  course  of  his  tenure  of  the  post  he  has  said 
more  impertinent  things  than  any  other  man 
dare  or  perhaps  more  than  any  other  man 
would  feel  inclined  to  be  responsible  for.  It 
was  the  fashion  to  laugh  at  all  his  thrusts, 
though  viewed  in  cold  blood  it  was  often  difficult 
to  discover  either  wit  or  humour  in  them. 

An  example,  taken  at  random  from  a  large 
store,  will  place  the  public  outside  the  House  in  a 
position  to  judge  of  what  passes  for  wit  within 
its  walls.  During  the  debate  on  the  Education 
Act  Amendment  Bill,  Mr.  Osborne  found  him- 
self sitting  on  a  back  bench  below  the  gangway, 
and  rose  thence  to  address  the  House.  Making, 
in  the  course  of  his  remarks,  some  characteristic 
reference  to  the  Nonconformists,  a  member  on 
his  right-hand  side  said  reproachfully  "  Oh  [  " 
Turning  round  upon  the  interrupter,  Mr. 
Osborne  continued,  "  My  hon.  friend  says  '  Oh  !  ' 
I  don't  know  what  my  hon.  friend  is,  but  he 
looks  like  a  Nonconformist "  —whereat  the 
House  went  into  a  fit  of  laughter  which  lasted 
several  moments.  In  fact,  on  the  memorable 
-  239 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

occasion  when  Mr.  Chichester  Fortescue 
knocked  over  the  ink,  and  whilst  hastily  wiping 
it  up  with  a  piece  of  blotting-paper  upset  a 
tumbler  of  water  over  Mr.  Cardwell,  who  had 
come  to  his  assistance,  the  House  of  Commons 
did  not  laugh  longer  or  louder  than  it  did  over 
this  exquisite  flash  of  wit. 

There  remain  in  both  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment men  who  sat  in  the  unreformed  House  of 
Commons,  and  who  will  not  have  forgotten  Sir 
•Charles  Wetherell.  They  will  doubtless  recog- 
nize the  broad  points  of  resemblance  between 
Mr.  Bernal  Osborne  and  the  hon.  member  for 
CBoroughbridge,  who  blustered  through  the  last 
days  of  the  unreformed  Parliament,  and 
whose  political  life  appropriately  closed  with 
its  dissolution.  Younger  men  can  discern 
the  resemblance  for  themselves  by  looking 
through  the  memorable  debates  of  the  Ses- 
sion of  1831.  "The  present  Cabinet  of 
Althorp  and  Co.,"  said  Sir  Charles  Wetherell, 
in  a  speech  I  open  at  random,  "  seem 
to  have  proceeded  upon  the  precedent  in  the 
history  of  England  which  was  given  by  Crom- 
well, Fairfax,  Milburne,  and  Co.  His  plan  of 
cutting  off  the  boroughs  and  diminishing  the 
number  of  members  has  not  the  merit  of 
originality,  for  it  is  almost  the  same  in  form, 

240 


Fallen  Out  of  the  Ranks 

in  substance,  and  in  principle,  as  the  radical 
system  of  reform  which  was  introduced  by  the 
regicides  when  they  established  a  Commonwealth 
in  England."  Are  not  this  fine  humour  of 
calling  the  Ministry  of  which  Lord  Althorp  was 
a  member  "  Althorp  and  Co.,"  and  "  the  down- 
right, hearty  way  "  of  describing  the  procedure 
of  the  Reform  Act,  like  an  echo  of  a  successful 
speech  by  Mr.  Bernal  Osborne?  One  point  of 
difference  between  the  original  and  the  imitator 
was  that,  whilst  Sir  Charles  Wetherell  was  a 
staunch  and  faithful  Tory,  the  late  member  for 
Waterford  did  not  trammel  his  humour  by  any 
considerations  of  party.  He  was  admittedly  the 
"  funny  man "  of  St.  Stephen's.  Regarding 
his  humour  critically,  perhaps  its  most  legiti- 
mately successful  manifestation  was  to  be 
found  in  the  fact  that  his  regular  seat  was  on 
the  Liberal  Ministerial  benches.  Votes  being 
too  serious  a  thing  to  be  funny  about  with  a 
(Liberal  constituency  scanning  the  division  list, 
Mr.  Osborne  generally  voted  straight  with  his 
party ;  but  of  late  Sessions  he  rarely  rose  from 
his  seat  behind  Mr.  Gladstone  without  having 
some  little  halfpenny  dart  to  shoot  at  the 
right  hon.  gentleman  or  at  the  policy  of  his 
Government . 

Mr.     Bouverie    shared    one    peculiarity    with 
241  Q 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

the  member  for  Waterford,  inasmuch  as  he  too 
sat  upon  the  Ministerial  benches  whilst  he  did 
all  that  lay  in  his  power  to  thwart  the 
Ministerial  policy.  But  Mr.  Bouverie  was  as 
studiously  gentlemanly  and  diffident  in  his 
manner  as  Mr.  Osborne  was  vulgar  and 
aggressive.  It  was  almost  distressing  to  watch 
the  right  hon.  gentleman's  perturbation  of  mind, 
and  even  his  self-abasement,  when  he  rose  to 
put  Ministers  or  the  House  right  upon  some 
point  of  procedure  or  precedent.  Evidently, 
if  he  had  had  his  choice,  he  would  rather 
have  cut  off  his  feet  than  stand  upon  them 
to  intrude  his  poor  counsel  upon  so'  august 
a  body  as  the  British  House  of  Commons,  or 
to  express  any  opinion  that  might  cause  incon- 
venience to  gentlemen  for  whom  he  had  so 
strong  a  personal  esteem  and  respect  as  for 
Her  Majesty's  Ministers.  But  duties,  however 
unpleasant,  must  be  performed,  and  to  do  Mr. 
Bouverie  justice  he  never  shirked  his  when  they 
lay  in  this  direction.  Mr.  Gladstone  must  be 
more  than  human  if  he  saw  without  emotion  that 
two  of  the  earliest  victims  of  the  dissolution 
of  Parliament  were  gentlemen  who  had  done 
their  best  in  the  way  of  candid  friendship  to 
foster  the  causes  that  brought  about  its— for  the 
Liberal  party — disastrous  issue. 

242 


Fallen  Out  of  the  Ranks 

There  are  at  least  a  score  of  other  men  of 
the  late  House  of  Commons,  perhaps  of  less 
distinction,  but  of  equally  strongly  marked 
individuality,  who  find  no  place  in  the  new. 
•Whilst  we  are  on  the  back  Ministerial  benches 
with  Bernal  Osborne  and  Mr.  Bouverie,  shall 
we  forget  the  charmingly  garrulous  old  gentle- 
man who  represented  Devonport  for  full  seven 
years?  Some  time  in  1873,  when  the  near 
approach  of  the  dissolution  had  become 
apparent,  a  deputation  of  the  local  Liberal  Com- 
mittee waited  upon  Mr.  Montague  Chambers, 
and  invited  him  to  announce  his  intention  of 
retiring,  in  order  to  make  way  for  another 
and  more  suitable  candidate.  Mr.-  Chambers 
answered  with  a  spirit  which  the  Speaker  and 
the  half-dozen  other  official  personages  who 
were  usually  compelled  to  be  present  whilst  the 
member  for  Devonport  harangued  them  in  the 
'House  of  Commons  would  well  understand. 
.The  immediate  consequence  of  this  interview 
was  that  Mr.  Montague  Chambers  redoubled  his 
attention  to  his  Parliamentary  duties.  Devon- 
port  had  hinted  that  he  was  scarcely  up  to  the 
mark  !  He  would  show  Devonport  that  it  was 
grievously  in  error  ;  and  so,  night  after  night, 
sometimes  twice  a  night,  Mr.  Chambers  was 
on  his  legs  addressing  "  Mr.  Speaker."  There 

243 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

was  neither  beginning  nor  middle  to  his 
harangues,  and  the  end  was  long  delayed. 
His  oratorical  manner  was  decidedly  peripatetic. 
Aristotle  himself  never  covered  as  much  ground 
in  the  course  of  a  lecture  as  did  Mr.  Montague 
Chambers  in  the  process  of  delivering  a  speech. 
He  invariably  enjoyed  the  advantage  of  having 
the  whole  length  of  the  bench  to  himself  ;  and, 
starting  from  the  end  near  the  gangway, 
gradually  worked  himself  along  till  he  stood 
under  the  shadow  of  the  Press  Gallery,  and  then 
edged  downwards  towards  his  starting-point, 
making  two,  three,  or  more  of  these  passages, 
according  to  the  length  of  his  address. 

"  Now  why  do  I  say  this?  "  was  his  favourite 
phrase,  uttered  with  his  forefinger  provokingly 
pointed,  and  his  head  on  one  side,  his  face  wear- 
ing the  air  of  infinite  wisdom)  we  somietimes  see 
in  the  parrot.  Heaven  only  knew  why  !  The 
House  of  Commons  never  could  make  out ;  but 
it  nevertheless  misses  the  chirping  Q.C.,  who, 
regarding  his  dress,  manner,  and  speech,  I 
have  always  thought  was  an  embodiment  of  Mr. 
Micawber  that  would  have  better  accorded  with 
the  ideas  of  Mr.  Dickens  than  the  clever  but 
more  pronounced  presentment  given  us  on  the 
stage. 

Just  underneath  Mr.  Chambers  Mr.  Alderman 
244 


Fallen  Out  of  the  Ranks 

Lawrence  sat  and  took  up  his  parable  about  the 
house  tax.  Right  hon.  gentlemen  on  the  lead- 
ing Liberal  bench  have  been  better  able  to  get 
their  after-dinner  nap  now  the  alderman  has 
gone,  for  he  had  not  a  voice  soft  and  low,  which 
would  have  been  a  beautiful  thing  in  an 
alderman  who  had  so  much  to  say.  Perhaps 
he  had  it  at  heart  to  strike  an  average  with 
Mr.  Edgar  Bo  wring,  who  sat  in  the  corner 
seat  of  the  same  bench  and  rarely  said  any- 
thing except  "  Hear,  hear."  Per  contra, 
the  junior  member  for  Exeter  bodily  occupied 
his  seat  for  more  hours  of  the  Session  than  any 
other  member — not  excluding  the  Speaker,  who 
does  sometimes  get  relieved  by  the  Chairman  of 
Committees.  It  was  one  of  the  sights  of  the 
House  to  see  Mr.  Bowring  in  his  corner  seat, 
softly  purring  to  himself  in  satisfaction  that  he, 
too,  was  a  member  of  Parliament,  could  hang 
his  hat  and  coat  in  the  cloak-room  (he  once 
described  to  his  constituents  the  position  of  the 
very  peg  he  had  appropriated  to  this  purpose), 
could  jauntily  pass  the  janitors  at  the  brass- 
latticed  door,  cross  the  sacred  bar,  walk  up  the 
House,  bow  to  the  Speaker,  and  then  take  his 
seat  so  near  the  First  Lord  of  the  Treasury  that 
if  he  stretched  out  his  hand  he  could  touch  the 
bald  place  on  the  top  of  the  right  hon.  gentle - 

245 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 

man's  head.  It  is  not  difficult  to  conceive 
the  amount  of  self-restraint  Mr.  Bowring 
must  have  imposed  upon  himself  to  prevent  his 
sometimes  adopting  this  means  of  assuring  him- 
self that  it  was  not  all  a  dream,  that  he  really 
was  a  member  of  Parliament,  and  that  this 
warm  and  comfortable  and  brilliantly-lighted 
chamber  in  which  he  sat  was  truly  the  House 
of  Commons.  He  was  not  the  rose,  but  he 
lived  near  it ;  and  now  he  is  shut  out  of  the 
garden,  and  the  high  distinction  of  holding  and 
keeping  the  first  place  in  the  Parliamentary  Buff 
Book  will  go  elsewhere. 

Mr.  Crawford,  "  the  member  for  the  Bank  of 
England,"  is  gone  from  these  benches,  from 
which  also  will  never  more  rise  the  figure  of 
Sir  George  Grey,  both  members  having  volun- 
tarily retired,  ostensibly  from  the  same  cause  of 
weariness  and  failing  health.  Mr.  Otway,  an 
able  and  honest  ex-Minister,  and  Lord  Enfield, 
an  honest  and  able  Minister,  both  lost  their 
seats.  From  these  same  back  Ministerial 
benches  have  gone  Dr.  Brewer,  whose  disin- 
terested efforts  in  behalf  of  the  habitual 
drunkard  ought  to  have  earned  him  that  per- 
sonage's sober  gratitude  ;  Mr.  Hinde  Palmer, 
who  leaves  the  Married  Women's  Property  Act 
of  1 8 7 o  unamended  ;  Mr.  Bonham-Carter,  who 

246 


Fallen  Out  of  the  Ranks 

turned  out  to  be  one  of  the  most  hopeless  Chair- 
men of  Committees  ever  appointed ;  and  Mr. 
Macfie,  whose  great  forte  was  figures,  his 
great  failing  that  he  could  never  prevail  on  a 
dozen  men  to  sit  out  his  disquisition  upon  any 
of  their  groupings.  By  way  of  light  distraction 
Mr.  Macfie  had  of  late  years  taken  up  the  sub- 
ject of  the  relations  of  England  to  her  colonies. 
The  regret  of  the  Liberal  Whip  at  the  issue 
of  the  contest  in  the  Leith  district  was  doubtless 
tempered  by  the  reflection  that  he  would  never 
more  see  that  portentous  blue  bag,  crammed  to 
the  neck  with  reports,  extracts,  and  Blue  Books, 
which  Mr.  Macfie  was  wont  to  drag  up  the 
floor  of  the  House  on  the  occasion  of  his  annual 
speech . 

Below  the  gangway  on  the  Liberal  side  there 
have  "  gone  forth "  many  "  who  never  will 
return"— at  least  as  long  as  the  present  mood 
of  the  constituencies  prevails.  Mr.  Auberon 
Herbert  left  of  his  own  accord,  and  in  him  the 
House  of  Commons  loses  a  man  whose  political 
honesty  was  equalled  only  by  his  undaunted 
pluck  and  his  almost  womanly  gentleness  of 
manner.  Mrs.  Barrett  Browning  is  one  of  the 
few  who  could  have  understood  and  done  justice 
to  the  nature  of  Auberon  Herbert.  Perhaps  she 
did,  for  if  she  has  not  actually  sketched  the 

247 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

man  in  Aurora  Leigh  the  coincidence  of  likeness 
is  remarkable. 

Mr.  Herbert  never  succeeded  in  making  any 
position  in  Parliament,  being  regarded  by  some 
as  a  visionary  and  by  others  as  a  dangerous 
character.  His  style  of  speaking  was  not 
attractive,  but  he  once  moved  the  House  of 
Commons  in  a  manner  by  comparison  with 
which  the  supremest  efforts  of  Burke,  Fox, 
Pitt,  or  Gladstone,  sink  into  nothingness.  It 
happened  in  the  early  days  of  the  Session  of 
1872,  on  the  occasion  of  a  motion  by  Sir 
Charles  Dilke  for  inquiry  into  the  expenditure 
under  the  Civil  List.  The  scene  was  led  up 
to,  as  most  memorable  outbreaks  in  the  House 
of  Commons  are,  in  the  most  unexpected  and 
unpremeditated  manner.  The  eager  throng  that 
crowded  the  galleries  allotted  to  the  public 
looked  for  something  startling  when  Sir  Charles 
Dilke  should  rise  to  speak.  It  had  been 
rumoured,  and  the  sequel  showed  that  the  state- 
ment was  not  without  foundation,  that  the  Con- 
servatives intended  to  meet  the  motion  by  rising 
en  masse,  and  leaving  Sir  Charles  to  talk  to 
such  Liberals  as  thought  the  subject  of  an 
inquiry  into  the  Civil  List  one  not  absolutely 
forbidden  to  the  representatives  of  the  people. 
But  the  count -out  was  a  card  held  for  playing, 

248 


Fallen  Out  of  the  Ranks 

if  necessary,  at  a  later  stage  of  the  game,  and 
after  Lord  Bury  had  succeeded  in  his  constant 
endeavour  of  putting  himself  en  evidence  on 
every  possible  occasion,  Sir  Charles  began  his 
speech  to  a  crowded  and  attentive  House,  which, 
whilst  freezingly  deprecatory,  remained  politely 
attentive  till  the  hon.  baronet  had  brought  his 
monologue  to  a  conclusion.  Mr.  Gladstone, 
anxious  to  make  an  end  of  the  matter,  followed ; 
and  it  was  taken  for  granted  that  the  incident 
was  closed,  and  the  strangers  who  had  come  to 
see  "  a  scene "  remained  to  mutter  their  dis- 
appointment. Sir  Charles  Dilke  had  made  his 
motion,  the  Prime  Minister  had  replied,  both 
sides  of  the  question  were  before  the  public, 
and  so  let  the  matter  rest,  was  the  evident  wish 
of  the  House. 

But  it  was  not  to  be.  As  Mr.  Glad- 
stone sat  down,  Mr.  Auberon  Herbert,  who 
it  was  well  known  desired  to  advocate  the 
motion,  leaped  up  from  his  seat  beside  Sir 
Charles  Dilke,  and  found  himself  face  to  face 
with  such  a  storm  as  has  rarely  beaten  against 
the  roof  of  St.  Stephen's.  The  country  gentle- 
men, famed  in  Parliamentary  annals  for  ability 
to  assist  the  progress  of  legislation  by  the 
utterance  of  unearthly  noises,  excelled  their 
historic  efforts  of  the  eras  of  the  Reform  Bill 

249 


Men  and  Manner   in  Parliament 

and  the  debates  on  the  Corn  Law.  They  roared 
and  yelled  and  even  hissed,  lashing  themselves 
into  fury  as  Mr.  Herbert  stood  shouting  out 
something  at  the  top  of  a  voice  that  was  utterly 
lost  in  the  storm.  Even  country  gentlemen 
cannot  bellow  "  Divide,  Divide  !  "  for  more  than 
five  minutes  at  a  stretch,  and  Mr.  Herbert, 
taking  cognizance  of  this  fact,  husbanded 
his  resources  accordingly.  When  something, 
which  might  by  comparison  be  termed  a  lull 
occurred,  he  looked  up  to  the  Press  Gallery, 
and,  by  a  superhuman  effort,  shouted  out  two 
or  three  words  that  seemed  to  reach  the 
reporters.  Then  the  Conservatives  brought  up 
their  reserve  forces,  and  a  sustained  yell  drowned 
the  speaker's  voice.  A  few  minutes  more  and 
the  hon.  member,  perceiving  signs  of  renewed 
exhaustion  in  the  Opposition  benches,  continued 
his  speech  at  the  very  words  at  which  he  had 
left  off ;  whereupon  the  Conservatives  came 
back  with  a  deafening  roar,  and  Mr.  Herbert 
resigned  the  innings  to  them. 

It  became  clear  that  he  was  winning  the 
game  by  strategy.  No  human  lungs  were 
equal  to  the  prolongation  over  an  hour  of 
such  an  effort  as  the  country  gentlemen 
were  then  making,  and  whilst  even  in 
the  full  tide  of  their  vigour  Mr.  Herbert  was 

250 


Fallen  Out  of  the  Ranks 

getting  out  his  speech  by  piecemeal,  it  was  too 
evident  that  when  they  had  shouted  themselves 
hoarse  he  would  come  up  smiling  and  say  all 
the  horrible  things  he  had  at  heart.  Accord- 
ingly a  change  of  tactics  was  decided  upon,  and 
the  count -out  card  was  dealt.  But  it  requires 
two  to  play  at  the  game,  and  as  Mr.  Gladstone 
and  his  colleagues  would  not  lend  themselves 
to  the  effort  to  stop  free  discussion  by  these 
means,  the  count -out,  thrice  essayed,  thrice 
failed,  Mr.  Herbert  profiting  by  these  brief 
pauses  to  gain  fresh  breath  and  renewed  vigour. 
Thoroughly  beaten,  the  Conservatives  finally 
resorted  to  the  expedient  of  clearing  the  House 
of  strangers,  with  the  intention  of  preventing 
Mr.  Herbert's  interjections  from  being  reported. 
This  proceeding  did  not  in  the  slightest 
degree  affect  the  hon.  member's  purpose,  and 
amid  a  babel  of  sounds,  through  which  the  shrill 
crowing  of  the  cock  could  alone  be  dis- 
tinguished, he  continued  his  speech  for  ten 
minutes  more,  when,  apparently  reaching  the 
end,  he  sat  down,  and  the  ferment  subsided  as 
quickly  as  it  had  arisen. 

Sir  Henry  Hoare,  who  has  gone  from  this 
same  bench  below  the  gangway,  was  of  much 
the  same  school  of  politics  as  Mr.  Herbert, 
though  he  had  learned  his  lessons  in  a  different 

251 


Men  and   Manner  in  Parliament 

manner,  and  when  talking  of  "  liberty,"  "  the 
people,"  and  so  forth,  would  say  "  I  and  the 
people"  rather  than  "the  people  and  I."  Mr. 
James  White  could  not  speak  extemporaneously, 
and  as  the  rules  of  the  House  forbade  him  to 
read  his  speeches,  he  did  not,  except  cor- 
poreally, make  such  a  figure  below  the  gang- 
way as  he  perhaps  otherwise  might  have  done. 
Mr.  Locke  King  sat  on  the  front  seat  when 
he  attended  the  debates,  which  was  not  a 
regular  occurrence  during  the  last  Session. 
He  did  not  know  his  Newcomes,  or 
he  would  have  made  better  uses  of  his 
closing  opportunity.  '  I  had  my  suspicions 
when  they  gave  that  testimonial,"  says  Fred 
Bayham,  talking  about  the  ruined  Colonel  and 
his  famous  allegorical  silver  coco -nut  tree. 
"  In  my  experience  of  life,  sir,  I  always  feel 
rather  shy  about  testimonials,  and  when  a  party 
gets  one  somehow  look  out  to  hear  of  his 
smashing  next  month."  It  was  doubtless  the 
last  thought  in  the  minds  of  the  guests  when 
Mr.  Gladstone  and  half  the  Liberal  party  went 
to  Mr.  Locke  King's  testimonial  presentation 
party  in  the  summer  of  1873,  tnat  when  P&rlia- 
ment  met  for  the  Session  of  1874  the  hero 
of  the  evening  would  be  without  a  seat  in 
the  House,  and  that  Mr.  Disraeli  would 

252 


Fallen  Out  of  the  Ranks 

lead    from     the    Treasury    Bench    a     majority 
of  fifty. 

The  first  back  seat  below  the  gangway  has 
been  literally  decimated.  Mr.  Miall  is  missed, 
though  not  for  the  sake  of  his  charms  of  oratory. 
To  tell  the  truth  there  were  few  speakers  in  the 
House  more  painful  to  listen  to.  His  style  was 
of  the  worst  order  of  Dissenting  preaching,  and 
there  was  a  specially  painful  vigour  in  the  way 
he  was  wont  to  wrestle  with  himself  for  words- 
pumping  them  out  one  by  one  as  if  they  came 
from  a  well  in  which  the  gearing  had  got  out 
of  order — that  could  not  be  excelled  by  any 
young  student  fresh  to  the  conventicle  from 
college,  and  desirous  of  impressing  critical 
deacons  with  the  amount  of  wisdom  which  must 
underlie  utterances  so  weightily  deliberate.  It 
is,  however,  probable  that  this  mannerism,  which 
had  of  late  years  grown  upon  him,  was  the 
outcome  of  that  failing  health  and  strength 
which  finally  resulted  in  his  retirement  from 
public  life.  It  speaks  eloquently  for  his 
force  of  character  that  in  spite  of  such 
personal  disadvantages,  and  though  known  as 
the  uncompromising  advocate  of  principles  pecu- 
liarly obnoxious  to  the  majority  of  his  fellow- 
members,  he  always  compelled  the  respectful 
attention  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  carried 

253 


Men   and   Manner  in  Parliament 

into  his  retirement  the  assurance  that  his 
absence  would  be  regretted,  his  place  not 
easily  filled. 

The  ladies  have  lost  a  champion  in  Mr. 
Jacob  Bright ;  Miscellaneous  Causes  an  umpire 
in  Mr.  W.  Fowler  ;  and  the  universe  a  guardian 
in  Mr.  Rylands.  Mr.  Tom  Hughes  can  be 
spared  from  the  seat  next  behind,  but  Mr. 
Delahunty  is  mourned  as  the  only  Irishman  left 
in  the  House  of  Commons  after  the  departure 
of  Mr.  Dowse  who  combined  common  sense 
with  a  rich,  unconscious,  natural  overwhelming, 
humour.  The  losses  on  the  other  side  are,  in 
two  instances,  distinct  gains  to  what  may,  with- 
out offence  now  that  Mr.  Bright  has  explained 
the  word,  be  called  "  the  residuum."  By  the 
defeat  of  Colonel  Stuart  Knox,  the  House  of 
Commons  will  be  relieved  of  the  presence  of 
a  scold,  and  in  Mr.  Douglas  Straight  it  loses 
a  young  gentleman  who  wore  an  aggravating 
bouquet  in  his  buttonhole,  and  emptily  talked 
to  the  High  Court  of  Parliament  as  if  it  were 
an  assembly  of  solicitors  and  he  a  barrister  of 
the  Middle  Temple,  not  to  mention  the  Old 
Bailey.  Sir  Herbert  Croft  is  an  intelligent 
country  gentleman,  best  known  for  his  presenta- 
tion before  the  debate  on  the  Burials  Bill  last 
Session  of  a  petition  which,  he  gravely  declared, 

254 


Fallen  Out  of  the  Ranks 

had  been  signed  by  some  of  his  constituents 
who  had  "  all  lived  in  their  parish  for  centuries." 
Mr.  Henry  Matthews  was  the  chivalrous  and 
eloquent  defender  of  his  co-religionists  against 
the  annual  attacks  of  Mr.  Newdegate,  and  Mr. 
Tom  Collins  was  the  anonymous  "  hon.  mem- 
ber "  whom  the  newspaper  reader  will  have 
occasionally  seen  referred  to  as  having  "  called 
the  attention  "  of  the  Speaker  to  the  numbers 
present.  The  benefit  Mr.  Collins  has  often 
conferred  upon  his  species  by  his  bold 
and  skilful  use  of  the  only  effectual  arm  the 
traditions  of  the  House  of  Commons  permit  to 
be  used  against  persistent  dullness,  bombast,  and 
self-sufficiency,  will  keep  his  memory  ever 
green.  In  his  enforced  but  let  us  trust  only 
temporary  absence,  it  is  some  consolation  to 
know  that  several  of  the  principal  victims  of 
his  successful  arts  have  followed  him  down  the 
valley,  and  were  not  "  present  to  say  '  Adsum  ' 
when  the  names  were  called "  in  the  new 
Parliament . 


255 


INDEX 


Adderley,  Right  Hon.  Sir  Charles 

B.  [K.C.M.G.],  39,  75 
Althorp,  Lord,  209,  240-1 
Anderson,  George,   119-20 
Astley,  Sir  John,   163-4 
Ayrton,  Right  Hon.  Acton  Smee, 
53,  ?o,  235  et  seq. 

Balfour,    Sir   George,    134,    135 

et  seq. 
Barttelot,     Colonel  Walter   B., 

M4-5 

Beaconsfield,  Lord.   See  Disraeli 
Bentinck,  George  A.  Cavendish, 

86,  88,  89,  90,  99  et  seq. 
Bethell,    Right    Hon.    Richard 

Augustus  [afterwards  Baron 

Westbury],  130 
Biggar,  Joseph  Gillis,   172,   176 

et  seq. 

Blennerhasset,  Rowland  P.,  173 
Bonham-Carter,   John,  246-7 
Bourke,  Hon.  Robert,  72 
Bouverie,  Right  Hon.  Edward  P., 

238,  241-2 
Bowring,     Edgar      A.      [C.B.], 

245-6 
Brabourne,  Lord.     See  Knatch- 

bull-Hugessen 
Brewer,  Dr.,  134,  246 


Bright,  Jacob,  254 

Bright,    Right   Hon.    John,   23, 

29-30,    32   et   seq.,    46,    75, 

113,   124,  125,  215 
Brougham,  Lord,  53 
Bruce,  Right  Hon.  Lord  Ernest, 

53 

Bulwer,  Sir  E.  L.,  33 
Burnand,  Sir  Francis,  14 
Burt,  Thomas,   153,   154,  155 
Bury,  Lord,   134,  249 
Butt,  Isaac  [LL.D.],  164-5,  168, 

176-7,   179 

Canterbury,  Archbishop  of  [Dr. 

Tait],  58,  60 
Cardwell,    Edward    [afterwards 

Viscount],  31,  52,  78,  79-80, 

195,  206,  233-4 
Chambers,  Montague,  243-4 
Chambers,  Sir  Thomas,   152 
Charley,  William  Thomas,  134, 

139 
Childers,   Right  Hon.   Hugh  C. 

E.,  91,  185,  197 
Cobden,  Richard,  36,  125 
Collins,  Thomas,  255 
Conolly,  Thomas,   172,   179 
Corbett,  John,  232 
Corry,  Hon.  Henry  W.  Lowry,  75 


257 


R 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 


Crawford,  James  Sharman,  246 
Croft,  Sir  Herbert,  254 
Cross,  Right  Hon.  Richard  A., 
52,  68  et  seq.,  83 

Da  vies,  David,  153,  154 

Delahunty,  James,  254 

Derby,  Lord,  27,  203,  207-9 

Dicey,  Edward,  14 

Dilke,  Sir  Charles  Wentworth, 
122,  123,  154,  248 

Disraeli,  Right  Hon.  Benjamin, 
23  et  seq.,  46,  47,  52,  54  et 
seq.,  85,  86,  95-6,  106-7, 
127,  133-4.  143.  I63.  I83. 

184,    185,    195,   221-2 

Dixon,  George,  113,  115,  116 
Dodson,     Right      Hon.      John 

George,  146-7 
Downing,  M'Carthy,  165,  170-1, 

177 

Dowse,  Right  Hon.  Richard,  254 
Duff,  Mountstuart  E.  Grant,  52 
Dyke,  William  Hart,  73,  74 

Elcho,  Lord,  151-2 
Elphinstone,  Sir  James  D.  H., 

86,  88,  89,  90-3 
Enfield,  Lord,  72,  246 

Fawcett,  Henry,  108  et  seq.,  140, 

154 

Fitzmaurice,  Lord  Edmund 
George  Petty,  134-5,  154, 
155  et  seq. 

Forster,  Right  Hon.  William 
Edward,  84-5,  112,  113,  184, 

l&5>   r95  et  se1->  2O1 
Fortescue,  Chichester,  240 
Fowler,  R.  N.,  134 
Fowler,  W.,  134,  254 


George,  David  Lloyd,  10 


Gladstone,  Right  Hon.  William 
Ewart,  23,  25,  26,  27,  39 
et  seq.,  50  et  seq.,  62,  113, 
133,  182  et  seq.,  215,  221-2, 
226,  249 

Glyn,  Hon.  George  Grenfell,  74, 

75 

Goldney,  Gabriel,  222 
Goldsmid,  Julian,  152-3,  156 
Gordon,  Right  Hon.  Edward  S., 

76.  77 

Goschen,  Right  Hon.  G.  Joa- 
chim, 52,  78,  80-1,  91,  102, 
131,  184,  185,  197-8 

Granville,  Earl,  202  et  seq. 

Gray,  Sir  John,  171-2 

Grey,  2nd  Earl,  27,  95-6,   199 

Grey,  Sir  George,  246 

Hamilton,  Lord  George  F.,  52 
Hampton,  Baron.     See  Paking- 

ton,  John  Somerset 
Harcourt,  Sir  William  G.  Vernon, 

37,  61,   103.   106-8,   187  et 
seq.,  236,  238 

Hardy,    Right   Hon.    Gathorne, 

52,  61,  78,  80,  209-10—11 
Hartington,  Right  Hon.  Marquis 

of,  52,  70,  71,  184,  185,  198 

et  seq.,  207 
Henley,     Right    Hon.      Joseph 

Warner,   145-6 
Henry,  Mitchell,  165,  169,  170, 

213 

Herbert,  Auberon,  247  et  seq. 
Hicks-Beach,    Right    Hon.    Sir 

Michael  E.,  52,  70,  71 
Hoare,  Sir  Henry,  251 
Holms,  John,   120-1 
Hope,  Beresford,  142-3 
Horsman,  Right  Hon.  Edward, 

38,  123  et  seq. 
Hughes,  Thomas,  254 


258 


Index 


Hunt,  Right  Hon.  George  Ward, 
52,  59,  78,  81,   131,  235 

Iddesleigh,  Lord.  See  Northcote, 
Sir  Stafford 

James,  Sir  Henry,   103-4,   122, 

236 
Jenkins,  J.  Edward,  140-1,  148- 

151 

Jenkinson,  Sir  George,  135,  141 
Jessel,  Sir  George,  121 

Keogh,  Mr.  Justice,   130 

King,  Locke,  252 

Kinglake,    Alexander    William, 

124 
Knatchbull  -  Hugessen,     Right 

Hon.  E.,  117 
Knox,  Colonel  Stuart,  234,  254 

Lawson,  Sir  Wilfrid,  117-18 
Lennox,  Lord  Henry  George  C. 

G-,  53,  75 
Lewis,  Charles  Edward,  109,  135, 

139,  190 
Lowe,  Right  Hon.  Robert,  38, 

40,   41,   52,   63,  65  et  seq., 

no,   124,   184,   186-7,   *93, 

198,  201,  236 

Lowther,  James,  86  et  seq.,  185 
Lusk,  Sir  Andrew,  137-8 

McArthur,     Alderman   William, 

108-9 

Macdonald,  Alexander,  154 
Macfie,  Robert  Andrew,  108-9, 

247 

Magniac,  Charles,  50,  51 
Manners,  Right  Hon.  Lord  John 

J-  R-,  33-  78 
Matthews,  Henry,  255 
Melbourne,  Lord,  124,  199 


Melly,  Right  Hon.  William,  134, 

138 

Miall,  Edward,  253 
Mill,  John  Stuart,  108,  140 
Monk,  Charles  James,   147-8 
Monsell,  Right  Hon.  William,  78 
Morgan,  Osborne,  141-2 
Mundella,   Anthony   John,    116, 

118,  213 

Napoleon  III.,  126,  130-1 
Newdegate,  Charles  Newdigate, 

89,    157-9,    175,   255 
Northcliffe,  Lord,   11-12 
Northcote,  Right  Hon.  Sir  Staf- 
ford H.,  52,  63,  64,  209-10 

O'Brien,  Sir  Patrick,  172,  180-1 
O'Connell,  Daniel,  162 
O'Donoghue,    D.     [the    O'Don- 

oghue],  166,  167-9 
O'Gorman,  Major    Purcell,  171- 

172,  173  et  seq. 
Osborne,  Ralph  Bernal,  36,  130, 

134,  238  et  seq.,  241  et  seq. 
O'Shaughnessy,  Richard,   164 
Otway,  Arthur  John,  246 

Pakington,  Sir  John  [afterwards 

Baron   Hampton],  231-5 
Palmer,  Hinde,  134,  246 
Palmerston,    Lord,    56-57,    58. 

204,  205,  228 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  193,  195,  212 
Plunket,   Hon.   David  R.,    166, 

169 
Power,     John     O'Conner,     166, 

167 

Ramsay,  Dean,  76 
Read,  Clare  Sewell,  72 
Roebuck,  John  Arthur,  123,  128 
et  seq.,  154 


259 


Men  and  Manner  in  Parliament 


Russell,    Lord    John,    27,    204, 

205,  212,  216,  218 
Ry lands,  Peter,  134,  254 

Sandhurst,  Lord,  119 

Sandon,   Right  Hon.   Viscount, 

61,  84 
Sclater-Booth,  Rt.  Hon.  George, 

75 

Scourfield,  John  Henry,  98-100 
Selwin-Ibbetson,  Sir  H.  J.,  70 
Sherbrooke,  Viscount.  See 

Lowe,  Robert 
Smith,  William  Henry,  73 
Smollett,  Patrick  Boyle,  97,  99 
Smythe,  Richard,   174 
Stanley,  Edward  Geoffrey  Smith. 

See  Derby,  Lord 
Stansfeld,    Right  Hon.    James, 

5i 

Straight,  Douglas,  254 
Sullivan,  A.  M.,   166,   177,   179 
Synan,  Edmund  John,  34,  115- 

116,  165,  171 


Tait,  Right  Hon.  Dr.  Archibald 
C.  [Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury], 58,  60 

Taylor,  Right  Hon.  Lieut.- 
Colonel  T.  E.,  73,  74,  150 

Trevelyan,  George  Otto,  148 

Victoria,  Queen,  204-6 

Westbury,  Lord.     See  Bethell 
Wetherell,  Sir   Charles,  216-17, 

240 
Whalley,  George  Hammond,  57, 

159-160 

Wheelhouse,  W.  St.  James,  222 
White,  James,  252 
Whitwell,  John,  222 
Williams,  Watkin,  120 
Willyams,  Mrs.  S.  B.,  32 
Wilmot,  Eardley,  134 
Wilson,  President  Woodrow,  5,  9 

Yates,  Edmund,  13 
Young,  Adolphus  W.,  76 


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